Uplink power control for a secondary cell in carrier aggregation

ABSTRACT

A wireless device transmits first uplink control information (UCI) on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) secondary cell employing an adjustment factor. The adjustment factor is updated when the wireless device receives a transmit power control command for the secondary PUCCH. The wireless device receives a first media access control (MAC) command indicating deactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell. The wireless device stops transmission of uplink signals on the PUCCH secondary cell. The wireless device receives a second MAC command indicating activation of the PUCCH secondary cell. The wireless device transmits a second UCI on the secondary PUCCH.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/182,464, filed Jun. 20, 2015, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present inventionare described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers in a carrier group as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a base station and a wireless device as peran aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 is an example grouping of cells into PUCCH groups as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates example groupings of cells into one or more PUCCHgroups and one or more TAGs as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates example groupings of cells into one or more PUCCHgroups and one or more TAGs as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is an example MAC PDU as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 is an example diagram illustrating timing of different eventsaccording as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an example diagram illustrating timing of different eventsaccording as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is an example diagram illustrating timing of different eventsaccording as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an example diagram illustrating timing of different eventsaccording as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is an example diagram illustrating timing of different eventsaccording as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is an example diagram illustrating timing of different eventsaccording as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is an example diagram illustrating timing of different eventsaccording as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 are example mappings of TPC command field according as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 23 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 24 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 25 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 26 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 27 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 28 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 29 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments of the present invention enable operation ofmultiple physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. Embodiments ofthe technology disclosed herein may be employed in the technical fieldof multicarrier communication systems. More particularly, theembodiments of the technology disclosed herein may relate to operationof PUCCH groups.

The following Acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure:

ASIC application-specific integrated circuit

BPSK binary phase shift keying

CA carrier aggregation

CSI channel state information

CDMA code division multiple access

CSS common search space

CPLD complex programmable logic devices

CC component carrier

DL downlink

DCI downlink control information

DC dual connectivity

EPC evolved packet core

E-UTRAN evolved-universal terrestrial radio access network

FPGA field programmable gate arrays

FDD frequency division multiplexing

HDL hardware description languages

HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request

IE information element

LTE long term evolution

MCG master cell group

MeNB master evolved node B

MIB master information block

MAC media access control

MAC media access control

MME mobility management entity

NAS non-access stratum

OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

PDCP packet data convergence protocol

PDU packet data unit

PHY physical

PDCCH physical downlink control channel

PHICH physical HARQ indicator channel

PUCCH physical uplink control channel

PUSCH physical uplink shared channel

PCell primary cell

PCell primary cell

PCC primary component carrier

PSCell primary secondary cell

pTAG primary timing advance group

QAM quadrature amplitude modulation

QPSK quadrature phase shift keying

RBG Resource Block Groups

RLC radio link control

RRC radio resource control

RA random access

RB resource blocks

SCC secondary component carrier

SCell secondary cell

Scell secondary cells

SCG secondary cell group

SeNB secondary evolved node B

sTAGs secondary timing advance group

SDU service data unit

S-GW serving gateway

SRB signaling radio bearer

SC-OFDM single carrier-OFDM

SFN system frame number

SIB system information block

TAI tracking area identifier

TAT time alignment timer

TDD time division duplexing

TDMA time division multiple access

TA timing advance

TAG timing advance group

TB transport block

UL uplink

UE user equipment

VHDL VHSIC hardware description language

Example embodiments of the invention may be implemented using variousphysical layer modulation and transmission mechanisms. Exampletransmission mechanisms may include, but are not limited to: CDMA, OFDM,TDMA, Wavelet technologies, and/or the like. Hybrid transmissionmechanisms such as TDMA/CDMA, and OFDM/CDMA may also be employed.Various modulation schemes may be applied for signal transmission in thephysical layer. Examples of modulation schemes include, but are notlimited to: phase, amplitude, code, a combination of these, and/or thelike. An example radio transmission method may implement QAM using BPSK,QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or the like. Physical radiotransmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changingthe modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirementsand radio conditions.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in thisexample, arrow(s) in the diagram may depict a subcarrier in amulticarrier OFDM system. The OFDM system may use technology such asOFDM technology, SC-OFDM technology, or the like. For example, arrow 101shows a subcarrier transmitting information symbols. FIG. 1 is forillustration purposes, and a typical multicarrier OFDM system mayinclude more subcarriers in a carrier. For example, the number ofsubcarriers in a carrier may be in the range of 10 to 10,000subcarriers. FIG. 1 shows two guard bands 106 and 107 in a transmissionband. As illustrated in FIG. 1, guard band 106 is between subcarriers103 and subcarriers 104. The example set of subcarriers A 102 includessubcarriers 103 and subcarriers 104. FIG. 1 also illustrates an exampleset of subcarriers B 105. As illustrated, there is no guard band betweenany two subcarriers in the example set of subcarriers B 105. Carriers ina multicarrier OFDM communication system may be contiguous carriers,non-contiguous carriers, or a combination of both contiguous andnon-contiguous carriers.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. A multicarrier OFDM communication system may include one ormore carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to 10 carriers. Carrier A 204and carrier B 205 may have the same or different timing structures.Although FIG. 2 shows two synchronized carriers, carrier A 204 andcarrier B 205 may or may not be synchronized with each other. Differentradio frame structures may be supported for FDD and TDD duplexmechanisms. FIG. 2 shows an example FDD frame timing. Downlink anduplink transmissions may be organized into radio frames 201. In thisexample, radio frame duration is 10 msec. Other frame durations, forexample, in the range of 1 to 100 msec may also be supported. In thisexample, each 10 ms radio frame 201 may be divided into ten equallysized subframes 202. Other subframe durations such as including 0.5msec, 1 msec, 2 msec, and 5 msec may also be supported. Subframe(s) mayconsist of two or more slots (e.g. slots 206 and 207). For the exampleof FDD, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in each 10 msinterval. Uplink and downlink transmissions may be separated in thefrequency domain. Slot(s) may include a plurality of OFDM symbols 203.The number of OFDM symbols 203 in a slot 206 may depend on the cyclicprefix length and subcarrier spacing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention. The resource grid structure intime 304 and frequency 305 is illustrated in FIG. 3. The quantity ofdownlink subcarriers or RBs (in this example 6 to 100 RBs) may depend,at least in part, on the downlink transmission bandwidth 306 configuredin the cell. The smallest radio resource unit may be called a resourceelement (e.g. 301). Resource elements may be grouped into resourceblocks (e.g. 302). Resource blocks may be grouped into larger radioresources called Resource Block Groups (RBG) (e.g. 303). The transmittedsignal in slot 206 may be described by one or several resource grids ofa plurality of subcarriers and a plurality of OFDM symbols. Resourceblocks may be used to describe the mapping of certain physical channelsto resource elements. Other pre-defined groupings of physical resourceelements may be implemented in the system depending on the radiotechnology. For example, 24 subcarriers may be grouped as a radio blockfor a duration of 5 msec. In an illustrative example, a resource blockmay correspond to one slot in the time domain and 180 kHz in thefrequency domain (for 15 KHz subcarrier bandwidth and 12 subcarriers).

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 5A shows an example uplink physical channel.The baseband signal representing the physical uplink shared channel mayperform the following processes. These functions are illustrated asexamples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implementedin various embodiments. The functions may comprise scrambling,modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols, mappingof the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or severaltransmission layers, transform precoding to generate complex-valuedsymbols, precoding of the complex-valued symbols, mapping of precodedcomplex-valued symbols to resource elements, generation ofcomplex-valued time-domain SC-FDMA signal for each antenna port, and/orthe like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued SC-FDMA baseband signal for each antenna port and/or thecomplex-valued PRACH baseband signal is shown in FIG. 5B. Filtering maybe employed prior to transmission.

An example structure for Downlink Transmissions is shown in FIG. 5C. Thebaseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may perform thefollowing processes. These functions are illustrated as examples and itis anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in variousembodiments. The functions include scrambling of coded bits in each ofthe codewords to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation ofscrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols: mapping ofthe complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmissionlayers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on each layerfor transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valuedmodulation symbols for each antenna port to resource elements;generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for each antennaport, and/or the like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued OFDM baseband signal for each antenna port is shown inFIG. 5D. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 4 is an example block diagram of a base station 401 and a wirelessdevice 406, as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.A communication network 400 may include at least one base station 401and at least one wireless device 406. The base station 401 may includeat least one communication interface 402, at least one processor 403,and at least one set of program code instructions 405 stored innon-transitory memory 404 and executable by the at least one processor403. The wireless device 406 may include at least one communicationinterface 407, at least one processor 408, and at least one set ofprogram code instructions 410 stored in non-transitory memory 409 andexecutable by the at least one processor 408. Communication interface402 in base station 401 may be configured to engage in communicationwith communication interface 407 in wireless device 406 via acommunication path that includes at least one wireless link 411.Wireless link 411 may be a bi-directional link. Communication interface407 in wireless device 406 may also be configured to engage in acommunication with communication interface 402 in base station 401. Basestation 401 and wireless device 406 may be configured to send andreceive data over wireless link 411 using multiple frequency carriers.According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, transceiver(s)may be employed. A transceiver is a device that includes both atransmitter and receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devices suchas wireless devices, base stations, relay nodes, and/or the like.Example embodiments for radio technology implemented in communicationinterface 402, 407 and wireless link 411 are illustrated are FIG. 1,FIG. 2, FIG. 3. FIG. 5, and associated text.

An interface may be a hardware interface, a firmware interface, asoftware interface, and/or a combination thereof. The hardware interfacemay include connectors, wires, electronic devices such as drivers,amplifiers, and/or the like. A software interface may include codestored in a memory device to implement protocol(s), protocol layers,communication drivers, device drivers, combinations thereof, and/or thelike. A firmware interface may include a combination of embeddedhardware and code stored in and/or in communication with a memory deviceto implement connections, electronic device operations, protocol(s),protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, hardwareoperations, combinations thereof, and/or the like.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether thedevice is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured mayalso refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operationalcharacteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational ornon-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware,registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within adevice, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state,to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “acontrol message to cause in a device” may mean that a control messagehas parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics inthe device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operationalstate.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, an LTE networkmay include a multitude of base stations, providing a user planePDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towardsthe wireless device. The base station(s) may be interconnected withother base station(s) (e.g. employing an X2 interface). The basestations may also be connected employing, for example, an S1 interfaceto an EPC. For example, the base stations may be interconnected to theMME employing the S1-MME interface and to the S-G) employing the S1-Uinterface. The S1 interface may support a many-to-many relation betweenMMEs/Serving Gateways and base stations. A base station may include manysectors for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 sectors. A base station mayinclude many cells, for example, ranging from 1 to 50 cells or more. Acell may be categorized, for example, as a primary cell or secondarycell. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, oneserving cell may provide the NAS (non-access stratum) mobilityinformation (e.g. TAI), and at RRC connection re-cstablishment/handover,one serving cell may provide the security input. This cell may bereferred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). In the downlink, the carriercorresponding to the PCell may be the Downlink Primary Component Carrier(DL PCC), while in the uplink, it may be the Uplink Primary ComponentCarrier (UL PCC). Depending on wireless device capabilities, SecondaryCells (SCells) may be configured to form together with the PCell a setof serving cells. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to an SCellmay be a Downlink Secondary Component Carrier (DL SCC), while in theuplink, it may be an Uplink Secondary Component Carrier (UL SCC). AnSCell may or may not have an uplink carrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier,may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlinkor uplink) may belong to only one cell. The cell ID or Cell index mayalso identify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell(depending on the context it is used). In the specification, cell ID maybe equally referred to a carrier ID, and cell index may be referred tocarrier index. In implementation, the physical cell ID or cell index maybe assigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using asynchronization signal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell indexmay be determined using RRC messages. For example, when thespecification refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlinkcarrier, the specification may mean the first physical cell ID is for acell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same concept may applyto, for example, carrier activation. When the specification indicatesthat a first carrier is activated, the specification may equally meanthat the cell comprising the first carrier is activated.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosedmechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example,in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, acombination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may bebased, at least in part, on for example, traffic load, initial systemset up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of theabove, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, variousexample embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible toimplement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosedprotocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wirelessdevices may support multiple technologies, and/or multiple releases ofthe same technology. Wireless devices may have some specificcapability(ies) depending on its wireless device category and/orcapability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. When thisdisclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality ofwireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the totalwireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, forexample, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE release with agiven capability and in a given sector of the base station. Theplurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selectedplurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devicesin a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/orthe like. There may be a plurality of wireless devices in a coveragearea that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example,because those wireless devices perform based on older releases of LTEtechnology.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are example diagrams for protocol structure with CAand DC as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.E-UTRAN may support Dual Connectivity (DC) operation whereby a multipleRX/TX UE in RRC_CONNECTED may be configured to utilize radio resourcesprovided by two schedulers located in two eNBs connected via a non-idealbackhaul over the X2 interface, eNBs involved in DC for a certain UE mayassume two different roles: an eNB may either act as an MeNB or as anSeNB. In DC a UE may be connected to one MeNB and one SeNB. Mechanismsimplemented in DC may be extended to cover more than two eNBs. FIG. 7illustrates one example structure for the UE side MAC entities when aMaster Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) are configured,and it may not restrict implementation. Media Broadcast MulticastService (MBMS) reception is not shown in this figure for simplicity.

In DC, the radio protocol architecture that a particular bearer uses maydepend on how the bearer is setup. Three alternatives may exist, an MCGbearer, an SCG bearer and a split bearer as shown in FIG. 6. RRC may belocated in MeNB and SRBs may be configured as a MCG bearer type and mayuse the radio resources of the MeNB. DC may also be described as havingat least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by theSeNB. DC may or may not be configured/implemented in example embodimentsof the invention.

In the case of DC, the UE may be configured with two MAC entities: oneMAC entity for MeNB, and one MAC entity for SeNB. In DC, the configuredset of serving cells for a UE may comprise of two subsets: the MasterCell Group (MCG) containing the serving cells of the MeNB, and theSecondary Cell Group (SCG) containing the serving cells of the SeNB. Fora SCG, one or more of the following may be applied: at least one cell inthe SCG has a configured UL CC and one of them, named PSCell (or PCellof SCG, or sometimes called PCell), is configured with PUCCH resources;when the SCG is configured, there may be at least one SCG bearer or oneSplit bearer; upon detection of a physical layer problem or a randomaccess problem on a PSCell, or the maximum number of RLC retransmissionshas been reached associated with the SCG, or upon detection of an accessproblem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or a SCG change: a RRCconnection re-establishment procedure may not be triggered, ULtransmissions towards cells of the SCG are stopped, a MeNB may beinformed by the UE of a SCG failure type, for split bearer, the DL datatransfer over the MeNB is maintained; the RLC AM bearer may beconfigured for the split bearer: like PCell, PSCell may not bede-activated; PSCell may be changed with a SCG change (e.g. withsecurity key change and a RACH procedure): and/or neither a directbearer type change between a Split bearer and a SCG bearer norsimultaneous configuration of a SCG and a Split bearer are supported.

With respect to the interaction between a MeNB and a SeNB, one or moreof the following principles may be applied: the MeNB may maintain theRRM measurement configuration of the UE and may, (e.g., based onreceived measurement reports or traffic conditions or bearer types),decide to ask a SeNB to provide additional resources (serving cells) fora UE; upon receiving a request from the MeNB, a SeNB may create acontainer that may result in the configuration of additional servingcells for the UE (or decide that it has no resource available to do so);for UE capability coordination, the MeNB may provide (part of) the ASconfiguration and the UE capabilities to the SeNB; the MeNB and the SeNBmay exchange information about a UE configuration by employing of RRCcontainers (inter-node messages) carried in X2 messages; the SeNB mayinitiate a reconfiguration of its existing serving cells (e.g., PUCCHtowards the SeNB); the SeNB may decide which cell is the PSCell withinthe SCG; the MeNB may not change the content of the RRC configurationprovided by the SeNB; in the case of a SCG addition and a SCG SCelladdition, the MeNB may provide the latest measurement results for theSCG cell(s); both a MeNB and a ScNB may know the SFN and subframe offsetof each other by OAM, (e.g., for the purpose of DRX alignment andidentification of a measurement gap). In an example, when adding a newSCG SCell, dedicated RRC signalling may be used for sending requiredsystem information of the cell as for CA, except for the SFN acquiredfrom a MIB of the PSCell of a SCG.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, serving cellshaving an uplink to which the same time alignment (TA) applies may begrouped in a TA group (TAG). Serving cells in one TAG may use the sametiming reference. For a given TAG, user equipment (UE) may use onedownlink carrier as a timing reference at a given time. The UE may use adownlink carrier in a TAG as a timing reference for that TAG. For agiven TAG, a UE may synchronize uplink subframe and frame transmissiontiming of uplink carriers belonging to the same TAG. According to someof the various aspects of embodiments, serving cells having an uplink towhich the same TA applies may correspond to serving cells hosted by thesame receiver. A TA group may comprise at least one serving cell with aconfigured uplink. A UE supporting multiple TAs may support two or moreTA groups. One TA group may contain the PCell and may be called aprimary TAG (pTAG). In a multiple TAG configuration, at least one TAgroup may not contain the PCell and may be called a secondary TAG(sTAG). Carriers within the same TA group may use the same TA value andthe same timing reference. When DC is configured, cells belonging to acell group (MCG or SCG) may be grouped into multiple TAGs including apTAG and one or more sTAGs.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention. In Example 1, pTAG comprises PCell,and an sTAG comprises SCell1. In Example 2, a pTAG comprises a PCell andSCell1, and an sTAG comprises SCell2 and SCell3. In Example 3, pTAGcomprises PCell and SCell1, and an sTAG1 includes SCell2 and SCell3, andsTAG2 comprises SCell4. Up to four TAGs may be supported in a cell group(MCG or SCG) and other example TAG configurations may also be provided.In various examples in this disclosure, example mechanisms are describedfor a pTAG and an sTAG. The operation with one example sTAG isdescribed, and the same operation may be applicable to other sTAGs. Theexample mechanisms may be applied to configurations with multiple sTAGs.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments. TA maintenance,pathloss reference handling and a timing reference for a pTAG may followLTE release 10 principles in the MCG and/or SCG. The UE may need tomeasure downlink pathloss to calculate uplink transmit power. A pathlossreference may be used for uplink power control and/or transmission ofrandom access preamble(s). UE may measure downlink pathloss usingsignals received on a pathloss reference cell. For SCell(s) in a pTAG,the choice of a pathloss reference for cells mayx be selected fromand/or be limited to the following two options: a) the downlink SCelllinked to an uplink SCell using system information block 2 (SIB2), andb) the downlink pCell. The pathloss reference for SCells in a pTAG maybe configurable using RRC message(s) as a part of an SCell initialconfiguration and/or reconfiguration. According to some of the variousaspects of embodiments, a PhysicalConfigDedicatedSCell informationelement (IE) of an SCell configuration may include a pathloss referenceSCell (downlink carrier) for an SCell in a pTAG. The downlink SCelllinked to an uplink SCell using system information block 2 (SIB2) may bereferred to as the SIB2 linked downlink of the SCell. Different TAGs mayoperate in different bands. For an uplink carrier in an sTAG, thepathloss reference may be only configurable to the downlink SCell linkedto an uplink SCell using the system information block 2 (SIB2) of theSCell.

To obtain initial uplink (UL) time alignment for an sTAG, an eNB mayinitiate an RA procedure. In an sTAG, a UE may use one of any activatedSCells from this sTAG as a timing reference cell. In an exampleembodiment, the timing reference for SCells in an sTAG may be the SIB2linked downlink of the SCell on which the preamble for the latest RAprocedure was sent. There may be one timing reference and one timealignment timer (TAT) per TA group. A TAT for TAGs may be configuredwith different values. In a MAC entity, when a TAT associated with apTAG expires: all TATs may be considered as expired, the UE may flushHARQ buffers of serving cells, the UE may clear any configured downlinkassignment/uplink grants, and the RRC in the UE may release PUCCWSRS forall configured serving cells. When the pTAG TAT is not running, an sTAGTAT may not be running. When the TAT associated with an sTAG expires: a)SRS transmissions may be stopped on the corresponding SCells, b) SRS RRCconfiguration may be released, c) CSI reporting configuration forcorresponding SCells may be maintained, and/or d) the MAC in the UE mayflush the uplink HARQ buffers of the corresponding SCells.

An eNB may initiate an RA procedure via a PDCCH order for an activatedSCell. This PDCCH order may be sent on a scheduling cell of this SCell.When cross carrier scheduling is configured for a cell, the schedulingcell may be different than the cell that is employed for preambletransmission, and the PDCCH order may include an SCell index. At least anon-contention based RA procedure may be supported for SCell(s) assignedto sTAG(s).

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. An eNB transmits an activation command 600 to activate anSCell. A preamble 602 (Msg1) may be sent by a UE in response to a PDCCHorder 601 on an SCell belonging to an sTAG. In an example embodiment,preamble transmission for SCells may be controlled by the network usingPDCCH format 1A. Msg2 message 603 (RAR: random access response) inresponse to the preamble transmission on the SCell may be addressed toRA-RNTI in a PCell common search space (CSS). Uplink packets 604 may betransmitted on the SCell in which the preamble was transmitted.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, initial timingalignment may be achieved through a random access procedure. This mayinvolve a UE transmitting a random access preamble and an eNB respondingwith an initial TA command NTA (amount of timing advance) within arandom access response window. The start of the random access preamblemay be aligned with the start of a corresponding uplink subframe at theUE assuming NTA=0. The eNB may estimate the uplink timing from therandom access preamble transmitted by the UE. The TA command may bederived by the eNB based on the estimation of the difference between thedesired UL timing and the actual UL timing. The UE may determine theinitial uplink transmission timing relative to the correspondingdownlink of the sTAG on which the preamble is transmitted.

The mapping of a serving cell to a TAG may be configured by a servingeNB with RRC signaling. The mechanism for TAG configuration andreconfiguration may be based on RRC signaling. According to some of thevarious aspects of embodiments, when an eNB performs an SCell additionconfiguration, the related TAG configuration may be configured for theSCell. In an example embodiment, an eNB may modify the TAG configurationof an SCell by removing (releasing) the SCell and adding (configuring) anew SCell (with the same physical cell ID and frequency) with an updatedTAG ID. The new SCell with the updated TAG ID may initially be inactivesubsequent to being assigned the updated TAG ID. The eNB may activatethe updated new SCell and start scheduling packets on the activatedSCell. In an example implementation, it may not be possible to changethe TAG associated with an SCell, but rather, the SCell may need to beremoved and a new SCell may need to be added with another TAG. Forexample, if there is a need to move an SCell from an sTAG to a pTAG, atleast one RRC message, for example, at least one RRC reconfigurationmessage, may be send to the UE to reconfigure TAG configurations byreleasing the SCell and then configuring the SCell as a part of the pTAG(when an SCell is added/configured without a TAG index, the SCell may beexplicitly assigned to the pTAG). The PCell may not change its TA groupand may always be a member of the pTAG.

The purpose of an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be tomodify an RRC connection, (e.g. to establish, modify and/or release RBs,to perform handover, to setup, modify, and/or release measurements, toadd, modify, and/or release SCells). If the received RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message includes the sCellToReleaseList, the UE mayperform an SCell release. If the received RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage includes the sCellToAddModList, the UE may perform SCelladditions or modification.

In LTE Release-10 and Release-11 CA, a PUCCH is only transmitted on thePCell (PSCell) to an eNB. In LTE-Release 12 and earlier, a UE maytransmit PUCCH information on one cell (PCell or PSCell) to a given eNB.

As the number of CA capable UEs and also the number of aggregatedcarriers increase, the number of PUCCHs and also the PUCCH payload sizemay increase. Accommodating the PUCCH transmissions on the PCell maylead to a high PUCCH load on the PCell. A PUCCH on an SCell may beintroduced to offload the PUCCH resource from the PCell. More than onePUCCH may be configured for example, a PUCCH on a PCell and anotherPUCCH on an SCell. FIG. 10 is an example grouping of cells into PUCCHgroups as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention. Inthe example embodiments, one, two or more cells may be configured withPUCCH resources for transmitting CSI/ACK/NACK to a base station. Cellsmay be grouped into multiple PUCCH groups, and one or more cell within agroup may be configured with a PUCCH. In an example configuration, oneSCell may belong to one PUCCH group. SCells with a configured PUCCHtransmitted to a base station may be called a PUCCH SCell, and a cellgroup with a common PUCCH resource transmitted to the same base stationmay be called a PUCCH group.

In Release-12, a PUCCH can be configured on a PCell and/or a PSCell, butcannot be configured on other SCells. In an example embodiment, a UE maytransmit a message indicating that the UE supports PUCCH configurationon a PCell and SCell. Such an indication may be separate from anindication of dual connectivity support by the UE. In an exampleembodiment, a UE may support both DC and PUCCH groups. In an exampleembodiment, either DC or PUCCH groups may be configured, but not both.In another example embodiment, more complicated configurationscomprising both DC and PUCCH groups may be supported.

When a UE is capable of configuring PUCCH groups, and if a UE indicatesthat it supports simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCH transmission capability, itmay imply that the UE supports simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCH transmission onboth PCell and SCell. When multiple PUCCH groups are configured, a PUCCHmay be configured or not configured with simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCHtransmission.

In an example embodiment, PUCCH transmission to a base station on twoserving cells may be realized as shown in FIG. 10. A first group ofcells may employ a PUCCH on the PCell and may be called PUCCH group 1 ora primary PUCCH group. A second group of cells may employ a PUCCH on anSCell and may be called PUCCH group 2 or a secondary PUCCH group. One,two or more PUCCH groups may be configured. In an example, cells may begrouped into two PUCCH groups, and each PUCCH group may include a cellwith PUCCH resources. A PCell may provide PUCCH resources for theprimary PUCCH group and an SCell in the secondary PUCCH group mayprovide PUCCH resources for the cells in the secondary PUCCH group. Inan example embodiment, no cross-carrier scheduling between cells indifferent PUCCH groups may be configured. When cross-carrier schedulingbetween cells in different PUCCH groups is not configured, ACK/NACK onPHICH channel may be limited within a PUCCH group. Both downlink anduplink scheduling activity may be separate between cells belonging todifferent PUCCH groups.

A PUCCH on an SCell may carry HARQ-ACK and CSI information. A PCell maybe configured with PUCCH resources. In an example embodiment, RRCparameters for an SCell PUCCH Power Control for a PUCCH on an SCell maybe different from those of a PCell PUCCH. A Transmit Power Controlcommand for a PUCCH on an SCell may be transmitted in DCI(s) on theSCell carrying the PUCCH.

UE procedures on a PUCCH transmission may be different and/orindependent between PUCCH groups. For example, determination of DLHARQ-ACK timing, PUCCH resource determination for HARQ-ACK and/or CSI,Higher-layer configuration of simultaneous HARQ-ACK+CSI on a PUCCH,Higher-layer configuration of simultaneous HARQ-ACK+SRS in one subframemay be configured differently for a PUCCH PCell and a PUCCH SCell.

A PUCCH group may be a group of serving cells configured by a RRC anduse the same serving cell in the group for transmission of a PUCCH. APrimary PUCCH group may be a PUCCH group containing a PCell. A secondaryPUCCH group may be a PUCCH cell group not containing the PCell. In anexample embodiment, an SCell may belong to one PUCCH group. When oneSCell belongs to a PUCCH group, ACK/NACK or CSI for that SCell may betransmitted over the PUCCH in that PUCCH group (over PUCCH SCell orPUCCH PCell). A PUCCH on an SCell may reduce the PUCCH load on thePCell. A PUCCH SCell may be employed for UCI transmission of SCells inthe corresponding PUCCH group.

In an example embodiment, a flexible PUCCH configuration in whichcontrol signalling is sent on one, two or more PUCCHs may be possible.Beside the PCell, it may be possible to configure a selected number ofSCells for PUCCH transmission (herein called PUCCH SCells). Controlsignalling information conveyed in a certain PUCCH SCell may be relatedto a set of SCells in a corresponding PUCCH group that are configured bythe network via RRC signalling.

PUCCH control signalling carried by a PUCCH channel may be distributedbetween a PCell and SCells for off-loading or robustness purposes. Byenabling a PUCCH in an SCell, it may be possible to distribute theoverall CSI reports for a given UE between a PCell and a selected numberof SCells (e.g. PUCCH SCells), thereby limiting PUCCH CSI resourceconsumption by a given UE on a certain cell. It may be possible to mapCSI reports for a certain SCell to a selected PUCCH SCell. An SCell maybe assigned a certain periodicity and time-offset for transmission ofcontrol information. Periodic CSI for a serving cell may be mapped on aPUCCH (on the PCell or on a PUCCH-SCell) via RRC signalling. Thepossibility of distributing CSI reports, HARQ feedbacks, and/orScheduling Requests across PUCCH SCells may provide flexibility andcapacity improvements. HARQ feedback for a serving cell may be mapped ona PUCCH (on the PCell or on a PUCCH SCell) via RRC signalling.

In example embodiments, PUCCH transmission may be configured on a PCell,as well as one SCell in CA. An SCell PUCCH may be realized using theconcept of PUCCH groups, where aggregated cells are grouped into two ormore PUCCH groups. One cell from a PUCCH group may be configured tocarry a PUCCH. More than 5 carriers may be configured. In the exampleembodiments, up to n carriers may be aggregated. For example, n may be16, 32, or 64. Some CCs may have non-backward compatible configurationssupporting only advanced UEs (e.g. support licensed assisted accessSCells). In an example embodiment, one SCell PUCCH (e.g. two PUCCHgroups) may be supported. In another example embodiment, a PUCCH groupconcept with multiple (more than one) SCells carrying PUCCH may beemployed (e.g., there can be more than two PUCCH groups).

In an example embodiment, a given PUCCH group may not comprise servingcells of both MCG and SCG. One of the PUCCHs may be configured on thePCell. In an example embodiment, PUCCH mapping of serving cells may beconfigured by RRC messages. In an example embodiment, a maximum value ofan SCellIndex and a ServCellIndex may be 31 (ranging from 0 to 31). Inan example, a maximum value of stag-Id may be 3. The CIF for a scheduledcell may be configured explicitly. A PUCCH SCell may be configured bygiving a PUCCH configuration for an SCell. A HARQ feedback and CSIreport of a PUCCH SCell may be sent on the PUCCH of that PUCCH SCell.The HARQ feedback and CSI report of a SCell may sent on a PUCCH of aPCell if no PUCCH SCell is signalled for that SCell. The HARQ feedbackand CSI report of an SCell may be sent on the PUCCH of one PUCCH SCell;hence they may not be sent on the PUCCH of different PUCCH SCell. The UEmay report a Type 2 PH for serving cells configured with a PUCCH. In anexample embodiment, a MAC activation/deactivation may be supported for aPUCCH SCell. An eNB may manage the activation/deactivation status forSCells. A newly added PUCCH SCell may be initially deactivated.

In an example embodiment, independent configuration of PUCCH groups andTAGs may be supported. FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show example configurationsof TAGs and PUCCH groups. For example, one TAG may contain multipleserving cells with a PUCCH. For example, each TAG may only comprisecells of one PUCCH group. For example, a TAG may comprise the servingcells (without a PUCCH) which belong to different PUCCH groups.

There may not be a one-to-one mapping between TAGs and PUCCH groups. Forexample, in a configuration, a PUCCH SCell may belong to primary TAG. Inan example implementation, the serving cells of one PUCCH group may bein different TAGs and serving cells of one TAG may be in different PUCCHgroups. Configuration of PUCCH groups and TAGs may be left to eNBimplementation. In another example implementation, restriction(s) on theconfiguration of a PUCCH cell may be specified. For example, in anexample embodiment, cells in a given PUCCH group may belong to the sameTAG. In an example, an sTAG may only comprise cells of one PUCCH group.In an example, one-to-one mapping between TAGs and PUCCH groups may beimplemented. In implementation, cell configurations may be limited tosome of the examples. In other implementations, some or all the belowconfigurations may be allowed.

In an example embodiment, for an SCell in a pTAG, the timing referencemay be a PCell. For an SCell in an sTAG, the timing reference may be anyactivated SCell in the sTAG. For an SCell (configured with PUCCH or not)in a pTAG, a pathloss reference may be configured to be a PCell or anSIB-2 linked SCell. For an SCell in a sTAG, the pathloss reference maybe the SIB-2 linked SCell. When a TAT associated with a pTAG is expired,the TAT associated with sTAGs may be considered as expired. When a TATof an sTAG containing PUCCH SCell expires, the MAC may indicate to anRRC to release PUCCH resource for the PUCCH group. When the TAT of ansTAG containing a PUCCH SCell is not running, the uplink transmission(PUSCH) for SCells in the secondary PUCCH group not belonging to thesTAG including the PUCCH SCell may not be impacted. The TAT expiry of ansTAG containing a PUCCH SCell may not trigger TAT expiry of other TAGsto which other SCells in the same PUCCH group belong. When the TATassociated with sTAG not containing a PUCCH SCell is not running, thewireless device may stop the uplink transmission for the SCell in thesTAG and may not impact other TAGs.

In an example embodiment, a MAC entity may have a configurable timertimeAlignmentTimer per TAG. The timeAlignmentTimer may be used tocontrol how long the MAC entity considers the Serving Cells belonging tothe associated TAG to be uplink time aligned. The MAC entity may, when aTiming Advance Command MAC control element is received, apply the TimingAdvance Command for the indicated TAG: start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with the indicated TAG. The MAC entitymay, when a Timing Advance Command is received in a Random AccessResponse message for a serving cell belonging to a TAG and/or if theRandom Access Preamble was not selected by the MAC entity, apply theTiming Advance Command for this TAG and start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG. Otherwise, if thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG is not running, the TimingAdvance Command for this TAG may be applied and the timeAlignmentTimerassociated with this TAG started. When the contention resolution isconsidered not successful, a timeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAGmay be stopped. Otherwise, the MAC entity may ignore the received TimingAdvance Command.

Example embodiments of the invention may enable operation of multiplePUCCH groups. Other example embodiments may comprise a non-transitorytangible computer readable media comprising instructions executable byone or more processors to cause operation of PUCCH groups. Yet otherexample embodiments may comprise an article of manufacture thatcomprises a non-transitory tangible computer readable machine-accessiblemedium having instructions encoded thereon for enabling programmablehardware to cause a device (e.g. wireless communicator, UE, basestation, etc.) to enable operation of PUCCH groups. The device mayinclude processors, memory, interfaces, and/or the like. Other exampleembodiments may comprise communication networks comprising devices suchas base stations, wireless devices (or user equipment: UE), servers,switches, antennas, and/or the like. In an example embodiment one ormore TAGs may be configured along with PUCCH group configuration.

FIG. 13 is an example MAC PDU as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention. In an example embodiment, a MAC PDU may comprise of aMAC header, zero or more MAC Service Data Units (MAC SDU), zero or moreMAC control elements, and optionally padding. The MAC header and the MACSDUs may be of variable sizes. A MAC PDU header may comprise one or moreMAC PDU subheaders. A subheader may correspond to either a MAC SDU, aMAC control element or padding. A MAC PDU subheader may comprise headerfields R, F2, E, LCID, F, and/or L. The last subheader in the MAC PDUand subheaders for fixed sized MAC control elements may comprise thefour header fields R, F2, E, and/or LCID. A MAC PDU subheadercorresponding to padding may comprise the four header fields R, F2, E,and/or LCID.

In an example embodiment, LCID or Logical Channel ID field may identifythe logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC SDU or the type ofthe corresponding MAC control element or padding. There may be one LCIDfield for a MAC SDU, MAC control element or padding included in the MACPDU. In addition to that, one or two additional LCID fields may beincluded in the MAC PDU when single-byte or two-byte padding is requiredbut cannot be achieved by padding at the end of the MAC PDU. The LCIDfield size may be, e.g. 5 bits. L or the Length field may indicate thelength of the corresponding MAC SDU or variable-sized MAC controlelement in bytes. There may be one L field per MAC PDU subheader exceptfor the last subheader and subheaders corresponding to fixed-sized MACcontrol elements. The size of the L field may be indicated by the Ffield and F2 field. The F or the Format field may indicate the size ofthe Length field. There may be one F field per MAC PDU subheader exceptfor the last subheader and subheaders corresponding to fixed-sized MACcontrol elements and expect for when F2 is set to 1. The size of the Ffield may be 1 bit. In an example, if the F field is included, and/or ifthe size of the MAC SDU or variable-sized MAC control element is lessthan 128 bytes, the value of the F field is set to 0, otherwise it isset to 1. The F2 or the Format2 field may indicate the size of theLength field. There may be one F2 field per MAC PDU subheader. The sizeof the F2 field may be 1 bit. In an example, if the size of the MAC SDUor variable-sized MAC control element is larger than 32767 bytes and ifthe corresponding subheader is not the last subheader, the value of theF2 field may be set to 1, otherwise it is set to 0. The E or theExtension field may be a flag indicating if more fields are present inthe MAC header or not. The E field may be set to “1” to indicate anotherset of at least R/F2/E/LCID fields. The E field may be set to “0” toindicate that either a MAC SDU, a MAC control element or padding startsat the next byte. R or reserved bit, set to “0”.

MAC PDU subheaders may have the same order as the corresponding MACSDUs, MAC control elements and padding. MAC control elements may beplaced before any MAC SDU. Padding may occur at the end of the MAC PDU,except when single-byte or two-byte padding is required. Padding mayhave any value and the MAC entity may ignore it. When padding isperformed at the end of the MAC PDU, zero or more padding bytes may beallowed. When single-byte or two-byte padding is required, one or twoMAC PDU subheaders corresponding to padding may be placed at thebeginning of the MAC PDU before any other MAC PDU subheader. In anexample, a maximum of one MAC PDU may be transmitted per TB per MACentity, a maximum of one MCH MAC PDU can be transmitted per TTI.

At least one RRC message may provide configuration parameters for atleast one cell and configuration parameters for PUCCH groups. Theinformation elements in one or more RRC messages may provide mappingbetween configured cells and PUCCH SCells. Cells may be grouped into aplurality of cell groups and a cell may be assigned to one of theconfigured PUCCH groups. There may be a one-to-one relationship betweenPUCCH groups and cells with configured PUCCH resources. At least one RRCmessage may provide mapping between an SCell and a PUCCH group, andPUCCH configuration on PUCCH SCell.

System information (common parameters) for an SCell may be carried in aRadioResourceConfigCommonSCell in a dedicated RRC message. Some of thePUCCH related information may be included in common information of anSCell (e.g. in the RadioResourceConfigCommonSCell). Dedicatedconfiguration parameters of SCell and PUCCH resources may be configuredby dedicated RRC signaling using, for example,RadioResourceConfigDedicatedSCell.

The IE PUCCH-ConfigCommon and IE PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may be used tospecify the common and the UE specific PUCCH configuration respectively.

In an example, PUCCH-ConfigCommon may include: deltaPUCCH-Shift:ENUMERATED {ds1, ds2, ds3}); nRB-CQI: INTEGER (0 . . . 98); nCS-AN:INTEGER (0 . . . 7); and/or n1PUCCH-AN: INTEGER (0 . . . 2047). Theparameter deltaPUCCH-Shift (Δ_(shift) ^(PUCCH)), nRB-CQI (N_(RB) ⁽²⁾),nCS-An (N_(CS) ⁽¹⁾), and n1PUCCH-AN (N_(PUCCH) ⁽¹⁾) may be physicallayer parameters of PUCCH.

PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may be employed. PUCCH-ConfigDedicated mayinclude: ackNackRepetition CHOICE{release: NULL, setup: SEQUENCE{repetitionFactor: ENUMERATED {n2, n4, n6, spare 1}), n1PUCCH-AN-Rep:INTEGER (0 . . . 2047)}}, tdd-AckNackFeedbackMode: ENUMERATED {bundling,multiplexing}OPTIONAL}, ackNackRepetitionj parameter indicates whetherACK/NACK repetition is configured. n2 corresponds to repetition factor2, n4 to 4 for repetitionFactor parameter (N_(ANRep)). n1PUCCH-AN-Repparameter may be n_(PUCCH, ANRep) ^((1,P)) for antenna port P0 and forantenna port P1. dd-AckNackFeedbackMode parameter may indicate one ofthe TDD ACK/NACK feedback modes used. The value bundling may correspondto use of ACK/NACK bundling whereas, the value multiplexing maycorrespond to ACK/NACK multiplexing. The same value may apply to bothACK/NACK feedback modes on PUCCH as well as on PUSCH.

The parameter PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may include simultaneous PUCCH−PUSCHparameter indicating whether simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmissionsis configured. An E-UTRAN may configure this field for the PCell whenthe nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info is set to supported in the band onwhich PCell is configured. The E-UTRAN may configure this field for thePSCell when the nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info is set to supported inthe band on which PSCell is configured. The E-UTRAN may configure thisfield for the PUCCH SCell when the nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info isset to supported in the band on which PUCCH SCell is configured.

A UE may transmit radio capabilities to an eNB to indicate whether UEsupport the configuration of PUCCH groups. The simultaneous PUCCH−PUSCHin the UE capability message may be applied to both a PCell and anSCell. Simultaneous PUCCH+PUSCH may be configured separately (usingseparate IEs) for a PCell and a PUCCH SCell. For example, a PCell and aPUCCH SCell may have different or the same configurations related tosimultaneous PUCCH+PUSCH.

The eNB may select the PUCCH SCell among current SCells or candidateSCells considering cell loading, carrier quality (e.g. using measurementreports), carrier configuration, and/or other parameters. From afunctionality perspective, a PUCCH Cell group management procedure mayinclude a PUCCH Cell group addition, a PUCCH cell group release, a PUCCHcell group change and/or a PUCCH cell group reconfiguration. The PUCCHcell group addition procedure may be used to add a secondary PUCCH cellgroup (e.g., to add PUCCH SCell and one or more SCells in the secondaryPUCCH cell group). In an example embodiment, cells may be released andadded employing one or more RRC messages. In another example embodiment,cells may be released employing a first RRC message and then addedemploying a second RRC messages.

SCells including PUCCH SCell may be in a deactivated state when they areconfigured. A PUCCH SCell may be activated after an RRC configurationprocedure by an activation MAC CE. An eNB may transmit a MAC CEactivation command to a UE. The UE may activate an SCell in response toreceiving the MAC CE activation command.

In example embodiments, a timer is running once it is started, until itis stopped or until it expires; otherwise it may not be running. A timercan be started if it is not running or restarted if it is running. Forexample, a timer may be started or restarted from its initial value.

LTE-Advanced introduced Carrier Aggregation (CA) in Release-10. InRelease-10 CA, the Primary Cell (PCell) is always activated. One or moreSecondary Cells (SCells) can be in activated or deactivated state. TheSCell activation/deactivation processes were introduced in Release-10 toachieve battery power savings. When an SCell is deactivated, the UE(also called a wireless device) may stop receiving downlink signals andstop transmission on the SCell. In Release-10 CA, the default state ofan SCell is deactivated when the SCell has been configured/added.Additional activation procedure employing MAC CE Activation Command maybe needed to activate the SCell. SCells may be deactivated either by anactivation/deactivation MAC CE or by the sCellDeactivationTimer. The UEand eNB maintain one sCellDeactivationTimer per SCell with a commonvalue across SCells. An eNB maintains the activation/deactivation statusof an SCell for a wireless device.

In LTE-Advanced Release-12, Dual Connectivity (DC) was introduced. InDC, a UE maintains connectivity to a Master eNB (MeNB) and a SecondaryeNB (SeNB). Serving cells may be grouped into cell groups (CGs) such asa master CG (MCG) and a secondary CG (SCG). The primary cell in MeNB iscalled PCell. A cell in SeNB is called PSCell. A PSCell may supportsimilar functions supported by a PCell, such as PUCCH, RACH, RLM, etc.If PSCell is deactivated, many processes may be impacted in SCG, e.g.RACH and PUCCH delivery. Therefore, in Release-12 DC, PSCell in SCG andPCell in MCG are kept in the activated state. In DC, theactivation/deactivation processes may be performed per CG and per eNB.Activation/deactivation related information may not be exchanged betweenMeNB and SeNB. With DC, the cells with PUCCH (e.g. PCell and PSCell) arealways in an activated state after they are configured. This process mayprevent the need for cross-eNB activation/deactivation.

Cells of an eNB may be grouped in multiple PUCCH groups, each having itsown PUCCH resources on a PUCCH SCell. eNB configures PUCCH groups for awireless device by transmitting RRC messages to the wireless device.Implementation of activation/deactivation processes for PUCCH SCell maypresent some issues, if Release-10 or 12 activation/deactivationprocesses are implemented. Novel PUCCH SCell activation/deactivationprocedures may be implemented to maintain PUCCH resources if and whenthey are needed. In addition, novel PUCCH SCell activation/deactivationprocedures may be implemented to handle scenarios wherein PUCCH isdeactivated or activated.

To achieve battery power saving benefits similar to the existing CAtechnology, it may be beneficial to enable deactivation of the PUCCHSCell. PUCCH SCell delivers uplink control information for the servingcells in the corresponding PUCCH group using its configured PUCCHresources. When there is no need for PUCCH UCI delivery, e.g. when otherserving cells in the same PUCCH group are deactivated, the PUCCH SCellmay be deactivated. Support for activation/deactivation of PUCCH SCellmay provide battery power saving benefits. There may be no need to keepPUCCH SCell activated all the time, for example when there is no datatransmission on cells in the corresponding PUCCH group. A PUCCH SCelldeactivation procedure may introduce new implications for SCells thatare in the corresponding PUCCH group. It may be beneficial to avoid orreduce situations where an active SCell may not have access to anactivated PUCCH SCell. It may be beneficial to develop systems andprocesses wherein the PUCCH SCell may be activated/deactivated to reducebattery power consumption in the UE. Implementations may consider thatthe PUCCH SCell carries control information related to other SCellswithin the corresponding PUCCH group.

Solutions may be provided in which PUCCH control information such asHARQ/CQI/SR may be sent on the PUCCH SCell even when the PUCCH SCell isdeactivated. Allowing transmission of the PUCCH control information on adeactivated PUCCH SCell may require that PUCCH SCell to be capable oftransmitting uplink signals when it is deactivated, or may requireactivation of PUCCH SCell when such transmissions are needed. Such asolution may to be too complex to implement and may require many changesto existing physical and MAC layer procedures and/or hardware. Partiallyactivating the PUCCH SCell for transmission of PUCCH control informationmay increase power consumption and transceiver complexity and may not bedesirable.

In an example scenario, there mayx be one or more activated SCellsbelonging to the same PUCCH group with PUCCH SCell. Since serving cellsin the same PUCCH group may use this PUCCH to deliver uplink controlinformation, once PUCCH SCell is deactivated, the delivery of the uplinkcontrol information for other activated serving cells in thecorresponding PUCCH group may not be possible. PUCCH SCell may carryPUCCH for other SCells in a secondary PUCCH group. Other SCells in thesecondary PUCCH group may require PUCCH SCell resources. An eNBimplementation may consider that a PUCCH SCell is activated before anyother SCell in a secondary PUCCH group is activated. The PUCCH SCell maynot be de-activated earlier than the other SCells in Secondary PUCCHgroup.

Deactivation of PUCCH SCell may imply stopping PUCCH transmissions onthe PUCCH SCell. Stopping PUCCH transmission on the PUCCH SCell mayimpact the downlink scheduling of other activated SCells in thecorresponding PUCCH group. It may be beneficial to keep the PUCCH SCellin the activated state as long as there is at least one other activatedSCell in the corresponding PUCCH group. When the other SCells aredeactivated, the PUCCH SCell may be deactivated when its deactivationtimer expires.

In an example embodiment, if the MAC entity is configured with one ormore SCells, the network may activate and deactivate the configuredSCells. The SpCell may always be activated. The network may activate anddeactivate the SCell(s) by sending the Activation/Deactivation MACcontrol element. Furthermore, the MAC entity may maintain asCellDeactivationTimer timer per configured SCell. The same initialtimer value applies to an instance of the sCellDeactivationTimer and itis configured by RRC. The configured SCells may be initially deactivatedupon addition and after a handover.

In an example embodiment, when PUCCH SCell is configured by the RRClayer, the initial state of the PUCCH SCell may be a deactivated state.An eNB may activate a PUCCH SCell when it is needed by transmitting aMAC Activation CE. In an example embodiment, when PUCCH SCell isdeactivated, PUCCH delivery on the deactivated PUCCH SCell mayx bestopped but PUCCH resource configuration may be kept (and not released).The configuration of the corresponding PUCCH group may be maintainedwhile deactivating PUCCH SCell or other SCells in the PUCCH group. Thestart of PUCCH transmission on PUCCH SCell may depend, at least, on theactivation delay of the PUCCH SCell. The re-activation of PUCCHtransmission after a deactivation may not require additional RRCreconfiguration procedure since RRC Configuration of PUCCH SCell isretained when it is deactivated. In some embodiments, if the TAGincluding PUCCH SCell is expired, PUCCH may be released and RRCreconfiguration may be needed to reconfigure PUCCH resources on PUCCHSCell.

In an example embodiment, the following processes may be implemented inthe UE and/or eNB when an SCell (e.g. PUCCH SCell or other SCells in aPUCCH group) is deactivated. Signals are applied to the process if theyare configured. Other similar processes may be developed to achievesubstantially the same outcome. If an SCell is deactivated, a UE may nottransmit SRS on the SCell; may not report CQI/PMI/RI/PTI for the SCell;may not transmit on UL-SCH on the SCell; may not transmit on RACH on theSCell; may not monitor the PDCCH on the SCell; and/or may not monitorthe PDCCH for the SCell. HARQ feedback for the MAC PDU containingActivation/Deactivation MAC control element may not be impacted by PCellinterruption due to SCell activation/deactivation. When an SCell isdeactivated, an ongoing Random Access procedure on the SCell, if any,may be aborted.

In the example embodiments, if the MAC entity receives anActivation/Deactivation MAC control element in a TTI activating theSCell (e.g. PUCCH SCell or other SCell(s) in a PUCCH group), the MACentity may activate the SCell. When an SCell is activated, UE may applynormal SCell operation including one or more or all of the following:SRS transmissions on the SCell, PDCCH monitoring on the SCell, PDCCHmonitoring for the SCell, start or restart the sCellDeactivationTimerassociated with the SCell, and/or trigger PHR. When an SCell isactivated, UE may apply CQI/PMI/RIPTI/HARQ reporting for the SCell, ifthe corresponding PUCCH is activated and uplink synchronized (isincluded in an uplink synchronized TAG). If the SCell belong to primaryPUCCH group, then PUCCH is always activated. If the SCell is in asecondary PUCCH group, UE may apply CQI/PMI/RI/PTI/HARQ reporting forthe SCell, if the corresponding PUCCH SCell is active and uplinksynchronized. In an example embodiment, when a PUCCH SCell is activated,the UE may apply normal operation of PUCCH transmissions. SRS and/orPUCCH are transmitted on an activated SCell if SRS and/or PUCCH areconfigured on the SCell. No uplink signals such as PUCCH, PUSCH, and SRSsignals are transmitted on an SCell which is out-of-sync (included in anout-of-sync TAG), except random access preamble.

A PUCCH SCell may be activated or deactivated by Activation/DeactivationMAC control element like other SCell(s) configured by an eNB. An eNBimplementation may activate a PUCCH SCell before any other SCell in thecorresponding PUCCH group is activated. In an example embodiment, if aneNB activates an SCell in a secondary PUCCH group when the correspondingPUCCH SCell is deactivated, the UE may not report CQI/PMI/RI/PTI/HARQ onPUCCH for the SCell until the corresponding PUCCH SCell is activated anduplink synchronized.

In an example embodiment, if the MAC entity in a UE receives aDeactivation MAC control element, the UE may deactivate the SCell. APUCCH SCell may be deactivated by Deactivation MAC control elementregardless of activation or deactivation status of other SCells in thecorresponding PUCCH group. It may be up to an eNB implementation todecide when to transmit Activation/Deactivation MAC control elements toa UE. A UE may process the received command to activate or deactivateSCells per the Activation/Deactivation MAC control element.

When the PUCCH SCell in a PUCCH group is in the deactivated state, thePUCCH SCell may not transmit PUCCH control information in the uplinkPUCCH for the SCells in the corresponding PUCCH group. Other activatedSCell(s) in a PUCCH group corresponding to a deactivated PUCCH SCell maynot transmit uplink CQI/PMI/RI/PTI/HARQ-feedback reporting on PUCCH ofthe deactivated PUCCH SCell.

An eNB implementation may reduce or prevent scenarios wherein PUCCHSCell is deactivated while one or more other SCells in the correspondingPUCCH group are active. For example, an eNB may transmit activationcommand for activating PUCCH SCell before or at the same time activatingother SCells in the corresponding PUCCH group. For example, an eNB maynot transmit a deactivation command to deactivate PUCCH SCell, whenthere is at least one active SCell in the corresponding PUCCH group.

In an example embodiment, Activation/Deactivation may be supported for aPUCCH SCell. While the PUCCH SCell is deactivated in a PUCCH group,SCells belonging to the PUCCH group may not be activated. The eNB maymanage the activation/deactivation status. The eNB may deactivate anSCell when its PUCCH is remapped to a deactivated PUCCH SCell. SCelldeactivation timer of PUCCH SCell may be disabled. A newly added PUCCHSCell may be initially deactivated.

In LTE-Advanced release 12, PUCCH is transmitted on primary servingcell(s) (PCell and PSCell). PSCell is configured when Dual Connectivity(DC) is configured. PCell and PSCell may remain activated after they areconfigured. A UE may start a random access process after PCell/PSCell isconfigured. A UE may start transmission of PUCCH after PUCCH isconfigured and the primary serving cell is uplink synchronized. InitialUE PUCCH transmit power, P_(PUCCH), for the physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) transmission in a primary serving cell (PCell andPSCell) is computed employing TPC command indicated in the random accessresponse corresponding to the random access preamble transmitted in theprimary serving cell (PCell in MCG and PSCell in SCG). A UE may, forexample, employ following power computation mechanism shown below tocompute the transmit power of PUCCH signals.

If serving cell c is the primary cell, the setting of the UE Transmitpower P_(PUCCH) for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)transmission in subframe i for serving cell c is defined by

${P_{PUCCH}(i)} = {\min{\begin{Bmatrix}\begin{matrix}{{P_{{CMAX},c}(i)},} \\{P_{0\_\;{PUCCH}} + {PL}_{c} + {h\left( {n_{CQI},{n_{{HARQ},}n_{SR}}} \right)} +}\end{matrix} \\{{\Delta_{F\;\_\;{PUCCH}}(F)} + {\Delta_{TxD}\left( F^{\prime} \right)} + {g(i)}}\end{Bmatrix}\left\lbrack {{dB}\; m} \right\rbrack}(1)}$

If the UE is not transmitting PUCCH for the primary cell, for theaccumulation of TPC command for PUCCH, the UE may assume that the UEtransmit power P_(PUCCH) for PUCCH in subframe i is computed byP _(PUCCH)(i)=min{P _(CMAX,c)(i),P _(0_PUCCH) +PL _(c) +g(i)}[dBm]  (2)

The power P_(PUCCH)(i) is calculated for subframe i, and UE may resetaccumulation of g(i) when P_(O_UE_PUCCH) value is changed by higherlayers or when the UE receives a random access response message for theprimary cell. The factor g(i) may be called the adjustment factor. InPCell and PSCell, the adjustment factor is initialized and computedemploying TPC command indicated in the random access responsecorresponding to the random access preamble transmitted in the primaryserving cell. The adjustment factor g(i) is initialized to zero (g(0)=0)if P_(O_UE_PUCCH) value is changed by higher layers (e.g. RRC).

In an example, P_(CMAX,c)(i) may be the configured UE transmit power insubframe i for serving cell c. If the UE transmits PUSCH without PUCCHin subframe i for the serving cell c, for the accumulation of TPCcommand for PUCCH, the UE may assume P_(CMAX,c)(i). If the UE does nottransmit PUCCH and PUSCH in subframe i for the serving cell c, for theaccumulation of TPC command for PUCCH, the UE may compute P_(CMAX,c)(i)assuming MPR=0 dB. A-MPR=0 dB, P-MPR=0 dB and □TC=0 dB.

In an example embodiment, the parameter Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F) may be providedby higher layers. Each Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F) value corresponds to a PUCCHformat (F) relative to PUCCH format 1a. If the UE is configured byhigher layers to transmit PUCCH on two antenna ports, the value ofΔ_(TxD)(F′) is provided by higher layers: otherwise, Δ_(TxD)(F′)=0h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR)) is a PUCCH format dependent value, wheren_(CQI) corresponds to the number of information bits for the channelquality information. n_(SR)=1 if subframe i is configured for SR for theUE not having any associated transport block for UL-SCH, otherwisen_(SR)=0. If the UE is configured with more than one serving cell, orthe UE is configured with one serving cell and transmitting using PUCCHformat 3; otherwise, n_(HARQ) is the number of HARQ-ACK bits sent insubframe i.

For PUCCH format 1, 1a and 1b h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR))=0. For PUCCHformat 1b with channel selection, if the UE is configured with more thanone serving cell,

${{h\left( {n_{CQI},n_{HARQ},n_{SR}} \right)} = \frac{\left( {n_{HARQ} - 1} \right)}{2}},$otherwise, h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR))=0. For PUCCH format 2, 2a, 2b andnormal cyclic prefix

${h\left( {n_{CQI},{n_{{HARQ},}n_{SR}}} \right)} = \left\{ {\begin{matrix}{10{\log_{10}\left( \frac{n_{CQI}}{4} \right)}} & {{{if}\mspace{14mu} n_{CQI}} \geq 4} \\0 & \text{otherwise}\end{matrix}.} \right.$For PUCCH format 2 and extended cyclic prefix

${h\left( {n_{CQI},{n_{{HARQ},}n_{SR}}} \right)} = \left\{ {\begin{matrix}{10{\log_{10}\left( \frac{n_{CQI} + n_{HARQ}}{4} \right)}} & {{{{if}\mspace{14mu} n_{CQI}} + n_{HARQ}} \geq 4} \\0 & \text{otherwise}\end{matrix}.} \right.$For PUCCH format 3 and when UE transmits HARQ-ACK/SR without periodicCSI. If the UE is configured by higher layers to transmit PUCCH format 3on two antenna ports, if the UE transmits more than 11 bits ofHARQ-ACK/SR

${h\left( {n_{CQI},{n_{{HARQ},}n_{SR}}} \right)} = {\frac{n_{HARQ} + n_{SR} - 1}{3}.}$Otherwise

${h\left( {n_{CQI},n_{HARQ},n_{SR}} \right)} = {\frac{n_{HARQ} + n_{SR} - 1}{2}.}$

In an example, for PUCCH format 3 and when UE transmits HARQ-ACK/SR andperiodic CSI, if the UE is configured by higher layers to transmit PUCCHformat 3 on two antenna ports, or if the UE transmits more than 11 bitsof HARQ-ACK/SR and CSI

${{h\left( {n_{CQI},n_{HARQ},n_{SR}} \right)} = \frac{n_{HARQ} + n_{SR} + n_{CQI} - 1}{3}},$Otherwise

${h\left( {n_{CQI},n_{HARQ},n_{SR}} \right)} = {\frac{n_{HARQ} + n_{SR} + n_{CQI} - 1}{2}.}$

P_(O_PUCCH) is a parameter composed of the sum of a parameterP_(O_NOMINAL_PUCCH) provided by higher layers and a parameterP_(O_UE_PUCCH) provided by higher layers. δ_(PUCCH) is a UE specificcorrection value, also referred to as a TPC command, included in a PDCCHwith DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D for the primary cell, orincluded in an EPDCCH with DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D for theprimary cell, or sent jointly coded with other UE specific PUCCHcorrection values on a PDCCH with DCI format 3/3A whose CRC parity bitsare scrambled with TPC-PUCCH-RNTI. If a UE is not configured for EPDCCHmonitoring, the UE attempts to decode a PDCCH of DCI format 3/3A withthe UE's TPC-PUCCH-RNTI and one or several PDCCHs of DCI format1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D with the UE's C-RNTI or SPS C-RNTI on everysubframe except when in DRX.

There are many challenges in calculation of transmit power for PUCCHsignals transmitted on a PUCCH SCell. Simply extending the currentmechanisms in release-12 may not result in an efficient powercalculation for PUCCH signals transmitted on a PUCCH SCell. Unlike aprimary cell, a newly added PUCCH SCell may be initially deactivated andno PUCCH may initially be transmitted on PUCCH SCell. An eNB mayactivate a PUCCH SCell after an arbitrary period of time and when thereis a need for activation of the PUCCH SCell. Unlike in the primaryserving cell (PCell and PSCell), PUCCH signals may not be transmittedshortly after configuration of PUCCH on an SCell.

The TPC command indicated in the random access response (RAR)corresponding to the random access preamble transmitted in the primarycell may or may not be applicable to the PUCCH transmission on a PUCCHSCell. In an example scenario, PCell and PUCCH SCell signals may betransmitted by the same eNB and in the same band and with the samepower. In such a scenario, the TPC command in RAR for the primary cellmay provide some useful information for power settings of PUCCH on thePUCCH SCell. In some other scenarios. PUCCH SCell signals may betransmitted by a different transmission point, in a different band,and/or with a different power compared with a primary cell. In anexample configuration, a PUCCH SCell may or may not have its own randomaccess resources different from the random access resources of theprimary cell.

Even after a PUCCH SCell activation, (unlike a primary cell) the PUCCHSCell may be deactivated using a MAC Activation/Deactivation command,and then be activated again after certain period with another MACActivation/Deactivation command. When a PUCCH SCell is deactivated noPUCCH signal may be transmitted on the PUCCH SCell. Power computationmechanism for PUCCH signal transmission when PUCCH SCell is activated orre-activated may need to be addressed. In another scenario, PUCCHresources may be configured on an existing activated and uplinksynchronized SCell. Power computation for PUCCH signal transmission onPUCCH resources configured on an existing activated SCell may need to beaddressed. Existing transmit power control (TPC) command transmissionand processing mechanisms may not apply to a PUCCH configured on a PUCCHSCell. Development of TPC command transmission and processing for PUCCHsignal transmission on PUCCH resources configured on an activated ordeactivated SCell may need to be addressed.

Legacy PUCCH signal power computation mechanisms in the currentLTE-Advanced technology may not be suitable for some example scenariosdescribed in the previous paragraphs. PUCCH signal power computationmechanisms in the current LTE-Advanced technology may need to beenhanced to address these scenarios. PUCCH SCell signals may betransmitted when PUCCH SCell is activated and uplink synchronized.Example embodiments provide mechanisms for computation of transmit powerof PUCCH signals on a PUCCH SCell. Example embodiments describe methodsand systems for transmission and processing of TPC commands for a PUCCHSCell and method and systems for computation of transmit power for aPUCCH SCell.

Legacy P_(PUCCH)(i) computation mechanisms may be updated for powercomputation of PUCCH signals transmitted on a PUCCH SCell. Mechanismsemploying equations (1) and (2) may be employed with different inputparameters for a PUCCH SCell. PUCCH on a PUCCH SCell may be configuredusing separate information elements compared with PUCCH on a primarycell. A first RRC PUCCH configuration parameters (including powerparameters) may be employed for configuration of PUCCH on a primarycell, and a second RRC PUCCH configuration parameters (including powerparameters) may be employed for configuration of PUCCH on a PUCCH SCell.The first and second PUCCH parameters may be comprised in one RRCmessage or multiple RRC messages (e.g. a first RRC message forconfiguration of a primary PUCCH and a second RRC message forconfiguration of a secondary PUCCH). Parameters P_(CMAX,c)(i),Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F), Δ_(TxD)(F′), h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR)), P_(O_UE_PUCCH)(may be calculated using the legacy methods using configurationparameters and settings of the PUCCH SCell. PL_(c) may be calculatedemploying the pathloss reference configured for the PUCCH SCell (via RRCsignalling).

The computation for the factor g(i) (so called the adjustment factor)may be updated for calculation of P_(PUCCH) of a PUCCH SCell. Theadjustment factor g(i) may be calculated for subframe i, and a UE mayreset accumulation when P_(O_UE_PUCCH) Value is received (e.g. receivedfor the first time, or when it is updated) by higher layers or when theUE receives a random access response message for a preamble transmittedon PRACH of the PUCCH SCell. The adjustment factor g(i) is initializedto zero (g(0)=0) if P_(O_UE_PUCCH) value is initially received or laterupdated by higher layers (e.g. RRC messages). In an example embodiment,when a PUCCH SCell is configured, the initial value of the adjustmentfactor, g(0), may depend on whether a random access process is initiatedon the PUCCH SCell. If the PUCCH SCell is uplink-synchronized withoutinitiating a random access process on PUCCH SCell, g(0) may beinitialized to zero. This may be regardless of PUCCH SCell being in ansTAG or a pTAG.

In an example embodiment, if the eNB initiates a random access processon the PUCCH SCell after the PUCCH SCell is configured and activated(e.g. when the PUCCH SCell is associated with an sTAG), the initialvalue of the adjustment factor, g(0), may be computed employing at leastin part the TPC command indicated in the random access responsecorresponding to the random access preamble transmitted in the PUCCHSCell. For example, g(0)=ΔP_(rampup)+δ_(msg2), where δ_(msg2) may be theTPC command indicated in the random access response corresponding to therandom access preamble transmitted in the PUCCH SCell and if UE istransmitting PUCCH in subframe i,

$\begin{matrix}{{\Delta\; P_{rampup}} = {{\min\left\lbrack {\left\{ {\max\left( {0,{P_{{CMAX},c} - \begin{pmatrix}{P_{0\_\;{PUCCH}} +} \\{{PL}_{c} + {h\left( {n_{CQI},{n_{{HARQ},}n_{SR}}} \right)} +} \\{{\Delta_{F\;\_\;{PUCCH}}(F)} + {\Delta_{TxD}\left( F^{\prime} \right)}}\end{pmatrix}}} \right)} \right\},{\Delta\; P_{rampuprequested}}} \right\rbrack}.}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

Otherwise,

ΔP_(rampup)=min[{max(0,P_(CMAX,c)−(P_(0_PUCCH)+PL_(c)))},ΔP_(rampuprequested)] and ΔP_(rampuprequested) may be provided by higherlayers and may correspond to the total power ramp-up requested by higherlayers from the first to the last preamble in the PUCCH SCell.

The value of g(0) may be applicable to the first instance of PUCCHsignal transmission after PUCCH SCell is activated and uplinksynchronized. In an example scenario, wherein a PUCCH SCell isconfigured and activated in pTAG or in an already synchronized sTAG,PUCCH signals may be transmitted after activation of the PUCCH SCellwithout a need for a random access process. In another example scenario,wherein a PUCCH SCell is configured and activated in an uplinkout-of-synch sTAG, PUCCH is transmitted after PUCCH SCell is activatedand the sTAG is uplink synchronized employing a random access process orMAC TA control element. When the sTAG is uplink synchronized employing aMAC TA control element, the value of g(0) may be set to zero.

In an example embodiment, the subsequent values of the adjustmentfactor, g(i), may be calculated employing the legacy computationmechanism for the PUCCH during the period that the PUCCH remains in theactivated state.

Existing transmit power control (TPC) command transmission andprocessing mechanisms may need further enhancements when a PUCCH isconfigured on a PUCCH SCell. Development of TPC commands transmissionand processing for PUCCH signals transmission on PUCCH resourcesconfigured on an existing activated SCell may need to be addressed.

FIGS. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 illustrate mechanisms employed inexample embodiments. For example, time (AB) in FIG. 14, time (DE) inFIG. 15, time (DE) in FIG. 16, time (HI) in FIG. 17, and time (HI) inFIG. 18 are example events causing the adjustment factor g(0) to be set.The figures provide some example scenarios. Time in LTE-Advance isorganized in frames and subframes. PUCCH resources may not be configuredin every subframe and a UE may not transmit PUCCH signals in everysubframe. In one example, PUCCH resources may be configured in subframes#0 and #5 in a plurality of frames. A PUCCH SCell may beactivated/deactivated in any subframes depending on the subframes thatMAC activation/deactivation CE is received and depending on theprocessing time for the corresponding MAC CE command. For example, aPUCCH SCell may be activated in subframe #1 and the first instance ofPUCCH may be transmitted in subframe #5. In an example embodiment, g(i)may be set, reset, or updated, for example, when a PUCCH SCell is inactivated state.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising: one or more first physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) information elements (IEs) indicating oneor more PUCCH formats of a secondary PUCCH of a secondary cell; and oneor more second PUCCH power control IEs. An RRC message transmitted to aUE for PUCCH configuration may comprise PUCCH configuration IEs. Some ofthe parameters may indicate one or more PUCCH formats of a secondaryPUCCH of a secondary cell. The IE PUCCH-ConfigCommon and IEPUCCH-ConfigDedicated may be used to configure the common and the UEspecific PUCCH configuration respectively. An RRC message transmitted toa UE for PUCCH configuration may comprise power control IEs for PUCCH.The IE UplinkPowerControlCommon and IE UplinkPowerControlDedicated maybe used to configure parameters for uplink power control in the systeminformation and in the dedicated signalling, respectively.

The wireless device may transmit a first instance of uplink controlinformation (UCI) on the secondary PUCCH employing an initial transmitpower computed employing an initial adjustment factor. If the wirelessdevice transmits a random access preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell,the initial transmit power may depend on at least one of the followingparameters: i) the one or more second PUCCH power control IEs indicatinga power parameter value for at least one of the one or more PUCCHformats: and/or ii) the initial adjustment factor. And the initialadjustment factor may be computed employing a transmit power controlvalue received in a random access response corresponding to the randomaccess preamble. Otherwise, the initial transmit power may depend on, atleast, the one or more second PUCCH power control IEs. And the initialadjustment factor may be set to zero.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aplurality of cells. The plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising:i) a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell with a primary PUCCHtransmitted to the base station; and ii) a secondary PUCCH groupcomprising a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH transmitted tothe base station. The wireless device may compute an initial transmitpower for the secondary PUCCH employing an initial adjustment factor.The wireless device may transmit a first instance of uplink controlinformation on the secondary PUCCH employing the initial transmit power.If the wireless device transmits a random access preamble on the PUCCHsecondary cell, the initial adjustment factor may be calculatedemploying a transmit power control value received in a random accessresponse corresponding to the random access preamble, otherwise theinitial adjustment factor may be set to zero.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aplurality of cells, the plurality of cells being grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising:i) a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell with a primary PUCCHtransmitted to the base station; and ii) a secondary PUCCH groupcomprising a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH transmitted tothe base station. The wireless device may transmit a first instance ofuplink control information on the secondary PUCCH employing an initialtransmit power. The initial transmit power may be computed employing aninitial adjustment factor. If the wireless device transmits a randomaccess preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell, the initial adjustmentfactor may be calculated employing a transmit power control valuereceived in a random access response corresponding to the random accesspreamble, otherwise the initial adjustment factor is set to zero.

In an example embodiment, a UE may deactivate a PUCCH SCell after aperiod of activation. A PUCCH SCell may be deactivated when a UEreceives a MAC Activation/Deactivation CE indicating deactivation of thePUCCH SCell. When the PUCCH SCell is deactivated no PUCCH signals may betransmitted on the PUCCH SCell by the wireless device.

In an example embodiment, the UE may store the last value of g(i) aftera last value of TPC command for PUCCH on SCell is received (e.g. beforePUCCH SCell deactivation). The stored value of g(i) may be employed forPUCCH signal power computation when PUCCH SCell is re-activated. A UEmay not consider any PUCCH TPC command for a deactivated PUCCH SCell,and the value of g(i) may not change during PUCCH SCell deactivation.This example embodiment is shown in FIG. 19. A UE may store the g(i)adjustment factor value at time (KL) and employ the stored value at time(LM).

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for a secondary cell in aplurality of cells. The wireless device may transmit uplink controlinformation on the secondary PUCCH employing an adjustment factor. Theadjustment factor may be updated when the wireless device receives atransmit power control command for the PUCCH. The wireless device mayreceive a first MAC activation/deactivation command indicatingdeactivation of the secondary cell. The wireless device may stoptransmission of the uplink control information and store a current valueof the adjustment factor. The wireless device may receive a second MACactivation/deactivation command indicating activation of the secondarycell. The wireless device may transmit uplink control information on thesecondary PUCCH employing the stored adjustment factor.

In an example embodiment, a PUCCH SCell may be activated when a UEreceives a MAC Activation/Deactivation CE indicating deactivation of thePUCCH SCell. The value of g(i) may be reset to zero when a PUCCH SCellis activated. In an example embodiment, g(i) may be reset to g(0)=0 whenan PUCCH SCell is activated and uplink synchronized. The adjustmentfactor of g(0)=0 may be employed for PUCCH power calculation after PUCCHSCell is activated. When PUCCH SCell is activated but is not uplinksynchronized, no PUCCH SCell may be transmitted until the associatedsTAG is synchronized. If the random access process is initiated on thePUCCH SCell, the UE may employ the disclosed embodiment and reset theg(0) employing TPC in a RAR received for the preamble transmitted on thePUCCH SCell. If the random access process is initiated on another SCell,the random access process may not impact the g(i) computation processand g(0) may be set to zero after SCell activation and/or after SCell istime aligned.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for a secondary cell in aplurality of cells. The wireless device may transmit first uplinkcontrol information on the secondary PUCCH employing an adjustmentfactor. The adjustment factor may be updated when the wireless devicereceives a transmit power control command for the PUCCH. The wirelessdevice may receive a first MAC activation/deactivation commandindicating deactivation of the secondary cell. The wireless device maystop transmission of the uplink control information. The wireless devicemay receive a second MAC activation/deactivation command indicatingactivation of the secondary cell. The wireless device may starttransmission of second uplink control information on the secondaryPUCCH. The adjustment factor may set or reset to zero after receivingthe first MAC activation/deactivation command and before transmission ofthe second uplink control information.

In an example embodiment, PUCCH resources may be configured employingRRC message(s) on an existing configured, activated, anduplink-synchronized SCell. PUCCH signals may be transmitted on the newlyconfigured PUCCH resources on PUCCH SCell after the RRC message(s) aresuccessfully processed. The adjustment factor g(i) may be initialized tozero (g(0)=0) when the RRC message(s) are processed. In an exampleembodiment, when P_(O_UE_PUCCH) value is received by higher layers theg(i) is initialized to zero (g(0)=0).

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for a secondary cell in aplurality of cells. The secondary cell being in an activated state andbeing uplink synchronized. The wireless device may transmit a firstinstance of uplink control information on the secondary PUCCH employingan initial transmit power. The initial transmit power may be computedemploying an initial adjustment factor. The initial adjustment factormay be set to zero.

In another example embodiment, an eNB may transmit PUCCH TPC for adeactivated SCell. In an example implementation, a UE may not consider(ignore) PUCCH TPC commands received during PUCCH SCell deactivation. Ifa UE considers PUCCH TPC commands received during PUCCH TPC deactivationand updates g(i) according to the received TPC commands, this approachmay add some complexity to the UE and eNB TPC processing. For example,when PUCCH for PUCCH SCell is configured, a tpc-index may be configuredfor DCI 3/3A. The tpc-index may be applicable to any DCI 3/3A receivedand decoded in TPC-PUCCH-RNTI in the common search space of the primarycell. The one or two bits identified by the tpc-index in the receivedDCI format 3/3A are reserved for the PUCCH SCell.

An eNB may transmit DCI 3/3A to control transmit power of PUCCH on aprimary cell. eNB may have to include the bits for the PUCCH SCell whenPUCCH SCell is configured, even if PUCCH SCell is inactive and/orout-of-sync. In an example embodiment, an eNB may set the value of theTPC for an inactive and/or out-of-sync PUCCH SCell to pre-definedvalues. A UE may receive DCI 3/3A transmitted employing TPC-PUCCH-RNTIin the common search space of the primary cell. The UE may decode theDCI 3/3A information. In an example embodiment, the UE may ignore theDCI 3/3A information identified by tpc-index of PUCCH of PUCCH SCell ifPUCCH SCell is deactivated. In an example embodiment, the UE may ignorethe DCI 3/3A information identified by tpc-index of PUCCH of PUCCH ofPUCCH SCell if PUCCH SCell is uplink out-of-sync. In an exampleembodiment, the UE may ignore the DCI 3/3A information identified bytpc-index of PUCCH of PUCCH of PUCCH SCell if PUCCH SCell is deactivatedand/or uplink out-of-sync.

Example embodiments may enhance the updating mechanism for theadjustment factor when PUCCH SCell is deactivated and/or uplinkout-of-sync. For example, when DCI format 3A is configured for TPC ofPUCCH of a PUCCH SCell. In a DCI format 3A received employingTPC-PUCCH-RNTI, the bit corresponding to PUCCH SCell may be set to zeroor one. According to Table B of FIG. 21, the value of zero maycorresponds to a step size of −1 dB and the value of one may correspondto a step size of +1 dB. Applying these values to the adjustment factormay add additional complexity and processing needs in both eNB and UE.In addition, such a process may become unstable, for example, when aPUCCH SCell is deactivated for a relatively long period of time.

FIGS. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 illustrate mechanisms employed inexample embodiments. For example, a UE may ignore TPC commands in time(A) in FIG. 14. For example, a UE may ignore TPC commands in time (C)and/or (D) in FIG. 15. For example, a UE may ignore TPC commands in time(C) and/or (D) in FIG. 16. For example, a UE may ignore TPC commands intime (G) and/or (H) in FIG. 17. For example, a UE may ignore TPCcommands in time (G) and/or (H) in FIG. 18. For example, a UE may ignoreTPC commands in time (J) and/or (L) in FIG. 19. For example, a UE mayignore TPC commands in time (J) and/or (L) in FIG. 20.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aplurality of cells. The plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising:i) a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell with a primary PUCCHtransmitted to the base station: and ii) a secondary PUCCH groupcomprising a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH transmitted tothe base station. The wireless device may receive and decode a grouppower control command on a common search space of the primary cell. Apower control command in the group power control command may be for thesecondary PUCCH. The wireless device may ignore (other terms such asabort, drop, not consider, not process, etc. may also be used) the powercontrol command when the PUCCH secondary cell is in deactivated state.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aplurality of cells. The plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell groupscomprising: i) a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell with aprimary PUCCH transmitted to the base station; and ii) a secondary PUCCHgroup comprising a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCHtransmitted to the base station. The wireless device may receive anddecode a group power control command on a common search space of theprimary cell. A power control command in the group power control commandmay be for the secondary PUCCH. The wireless device may ignore (otherterms such as abort, drop, not consider, not process, etc. may also beused) the power control command when the PUCCH secondary cell is in atiming advance group which is out-of-sync (not uplink synchronized). Thetiming advance group is out-of-sync (not uplink synchronized) if itstime alignment timer is not running.

In an example embodiment, DCI formats 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2 maycomprise TPC command for PUCCH. In the current LTE-Advanced, The TPCcommand in these DCI formats are applicable to PUCCH on PCell or PSCelldepending on which eNB transmits the command. If the DCI is received bythe MAC/PHY entity communicating with the Master eNB, the TPC commandfor PUCCH is applied to PUCCH transmitted to the Master eNB. If the DCIis received by the MAC/PHY entity communicating with the Secondary eNB,the TPC command for PUCCH is applied to PUCCH transmitted to theSecondary eNB. A UE may comprise two functionally independent MAC/PHYentities, when the UE is configured with dual connectivity (DC). Newpower control command (TPC) transmission mechanisms may be employed totransmit TPC commands for PUCCH SCell(s). In the current LTE-Advanced,The TPC commands in these DCI formats are applicable to a primaryserving cell. When multiple PUCCH groups are configured, the existingTPC transmission and reception mechanisms need to be enhanced.

In an example solution, the PUCCH TPC commands in DCI formats1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2 may be applicable to the primary cell whenPUCCH groups are configured. DCI formats 3/3A can be extended byconfiguring new tpc-Index for the PUCCH SCell. This approach may besimple and provide an easy extension of the current power controlmethods, but may limit the power control commands of PUCCH on PUCCHSCell to TPCs in DCI formats 3/3A. An eNB may need to frequentlytransmit DCI formats 3/3A on PCell common search space, and this mayincrease the control channel (PDCCH/ePDCCH) overhead.

In an example solution, a new index may be added to DCI formats1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2 to identify the serving cell or to identifyPUCCH group that the PUCCH TPC command is applicable to. This approachmay be flexible and extendable, but may increase the size of the DCIformats and consequently increase the control channel overhead andcomplexity. Other alternatives may be available to address this issue,including relying on open loop power control for a PUCCH SCell, applyingthe TPC commands to PUCCH on both primary and secondary cell(s),dividing subframes in multiple subsets and DCI in a subset would beapplicable to a PUCCH resource, and etc. There is a need for anefficient and enhanced TPC transmission and processing mechanism forPUCCH signals transmitted on PUCCH resources configured on an SCell.

In an example embodiment, effective power control mechanisms areintroduced for PUCCH signal transmission on an SCell. TPC commands maybe transmitted for PUCCH on an SCell without increasing the signallingoverhead. Enhanced mechanisms may be developed for determining which TPCcommands are applicable to which PUCCH.

In an example embodiment, a serving cell carrying the PDCCH/ePDCCH DCIor the serving cell that employ the PDCCH/ePDCCH DCI (DCI is for thatserving cell) implicitly determines the PUCCH that employ the PUCCH TPCcommand in the DCI. When cross carrier scheduling across PUCCH groupsare not allowed/configured, then the serving cell carrying thePDCCH/ePDCCH DCI and the serving cell that employ the PDCCH/ePDCCH DCIbelong to the same PUCCH group.

In an example embodiment, when the PDCCH/ePDCCH DCI carries schedulinginformation for a cell in a PUCCH group, the TPC command in DCI1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2 may be applicable to the PUCCH on the PUCCHSCell associated with the PUCCH group. This rule may implicitlydetermine which PUCCH may employ PUCCH TCP command in a PDCCH/ePDCCH DCIformat 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2. When cross-carrier scheduling acrossPUCCH groups are not allowed/configured, the following equivalent rulemay be implemented. When the PDCCH/ePDCCH DCI is received on a cell in aPUCCH group, the TPC command in DCI 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2 may beapplicable to the PUCCH on the PUCCH SCell associated with the PUCCHgroup.

This mechanism may not be applicable to DCI format 3/3A. DCI format 3/3Ais transmitted on the primary cell. If this mechanism is extended to DCIformat 3/3A, then the PUCCH TPC commands carried on DCI format 3/3Awould be only applicable to the primary cell. A different mechanism needto be developed for DCI formats 3/3A. DCI format 3/3A may be extended toPUCCH on PUCCH SCell(s) by defining a new tpc-Index configured for aPUCCH SCell using RRC signalling.

In the example embodiments, power control mechanisms are extended toefficiently implement power control mechanisms for PUCCH on PUCCHSCell(s), without a need to change the format of DCI formats1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2/3/3A. The UE may identify which PUCCH employsthe TPC command in DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2 using theinformation on which serving cell carries the PDCCH DCI, or whichserving cell applies the scheduling information in the PDCCH DCI. Thesetwo rules are practically the same (achieve the same result), when crosscarrier scheduling is not allowed and/or configured among PUCCH groups.DCI formats 3/3A may be extended employing newly configured tpc-indexfor a PUCCH SCell using RRC signalling. These mechanisms employ legacyDCI formats 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2B/2C/2D/2/3/3A and extend the legacy PUCCHpower control mechanisms to PUCCH SCells by defining new mechanisms inthe physical layer and/or RRC signalling.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aplurality of cells. The plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising:i) a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell with a primary PUCCHtransmitted to the base station; and a secondary PUCCH group comprisinga PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH transmitted to the basestation. The wireless device may receive, from the base station and on acell in the plurality of cells, downlink control information comprisinga PUCCH power control command. The downlink control information may bereceived in a wireless device specific search space of a downlinkcontrol channel of the cell. The wireless device may apply the PUCCHpower control command to the primary PUCCH if the primary PUCCH groupcomprises the cell. The wireless device may apply the PUCCH powercontrol command to the secondary PUCCH if the secondary PUCCH groupcomprises the cell.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aplurality of cells. The plurality of cells being grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising:i) a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell with a primary PUCCHtransmitted to the base station; and a secondary PUCCH group comprisinga PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH transmitted to the basestation. The wireless device may receive, from the base station and fora cell in the plurality of cells, downlink control informationcomprising a PUCCH power control command. The downlink controlinformation may be received in a wireless device specific search spaceof a downlink control channel of the cell. The wireless device may applythe PUCCH power control command to the primary PUCCH if the primaryPUCCH group comprises the cell. The wireless device may apply the PUCCHpower control command to the secondary PUCCH if the secondary PUCCHgroup comprises the cell.

3GPP TS 36.213 standard titled “Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures” describes uplink powercontrol procedures for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) andphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH). An aspect of the PUSCH andPUCCH power control mechanism is about determining the initialPUSCH/PUCCH transmit power after a successful PRACH.

In 3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.2 (February 2013), the initial PUSCH/PUCCHtransmit power after a successful PRACH process takes into account theamount of power ramping of the PRACH preamble prior to receipt of theRandom Access Response and the transmit power control (TPC) commandindicated in the random access response corresponding to the randomaccess preamble transmitted in the serving cell. The power controlprocedures in 3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.2 is presented in Appendix A.

3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.2 specifies the following rules for PUSCHcalculations: For both types of f_(c)(*) (accumulation or currentabsolute) the first value is set as follows: If P_(O_UE_PUSCH,c) valueis changed by higher layers and serving cell c is the primary cell or,if P_(O_UE_PUSCH,c) value is received by higher layers and serving cellc is a Secondary cell f_(c)(0)=0 Else If the UE receives the randomaccess response message for a serving cell cf_(c)(0)=ΔP_(rampup,c)+δ_(msg2,c), where δ_(msg2,c) is the TPC commandindicated in the random access response corresponding to the randomaccess preamble transmitted in the serving cell c see Section 6.2, andΔP_(rampup,c) is provided by higher layers and corresponds to the totalpower ramp-up from the first to the last preamble in the serving cell c.

3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.2 specifies the following rules for PUCCHcalculations: If P_(O_UE_PUCCH) value is changed by higher layers,g(0)=0 Else g(0)=ΔP_(rampup)+δ_(msg2), where δ_(msg2) is the TPC commandindicated in the random access response corresponding to the randomaccess preamble transmitted in the primary cell, and ΔP_(rampup) is thetotal power ramp-up from the first to the last preamble in the primarycell provided by higher layers.

Change Request, R1-132673, submitted in 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #73,May 2013, provides a mechanism to enhance PUSCH/PUCCH transmit powerdetermination mechanism after PRACH power ramping. In the power controlmechanism described in 3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.2, initial PUSCH/PUCCH powerafter PRACH preamble power ramping may get stuck at maximum power for aprolonged period while repeated negative power control commands may haveno effect.

R1-132673 indicates that although the PRACH preamble transmission itselfis capped at the maximum UE transmit power, the value of the total powerramping requested by higher layers, as passed down from the MAC layer tothe physical layer, is not capped at the maximum UE transmit power. Thismay imply that the accumulative power adjustments f(i) (for PUSCH) andg(i) (for PUCCH) can be initialized to values that are much higher thanthe actual PRACH preamble power ramping. This is in contrast to theaccumulative power control for PUSCH and PUCCH, for which it isspecified that positive power control commands are not be accumulated ifthe UE has reached maximum power.

Since subsequent negative power control commands may act on theaccumulated f(i) and g(i) rather than on the actual power, a largenumber of negative power control commands may be required after asuccessful PRACH preamble transmission in order to bring f(i) and g(i)back down to levels at which they start to reduce the actual UEtransmitted power.

Similar to the way that positive power control commands may not beaccumulated in f(i) and g(i) for PUSCH/PUCCH power control if the UE hasreached maximum power, the initialization of f(i) and g(i) based onPRACH power ramping may be capped at the UE maximum power. R1-132673describes an enhance power control mechanism, in which the initial powersetting of PUSCH/PUCCH after PRACH preamble transmission in computedbased on the following formulas.

3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.3 (including the Change Request R1-132673) specifiesthe following rules for PUSCH calculations: For both types of f_(c)(*)(accumulation or current absolute) the first value is set as follows: IfP_(O_UE_PUSCH,c) value is changed by higher layers and serving cell c isthe primary cell or, if P_(O_UE_PUSCH,c) value is received by higherlayers and serving cell c is a Secondary cell, f_(c)(0)=0, Else If theUE receives the random access response message for a serving cell c,f_(c)(0)=ΔP_(rampup,c)+δ_(msg2,c), where δ_(msg2,c) is the TPC commandindicated in the random access response corresponding to the randomaccess preamble transmitted in the serving cell c, see Section 6.2, and

${\Delta\; P_{{rampup},c}} = {\min\left\lbrack {\left\{ {\max\left( {0,{P_{{CMAX},c} - \begin{pmatrix}{{10{\log_{10}\left( {M_{{PUSCH},c}(0)} \right)}} +} \\{{P_{{O\;\_\;{PUSCH}},c}(2)} + \delta_{{msg}\; 2} +} \\{{{\alpha_{c}(2)} \cdot {PL}} + {\Delta_{{TF},c}(0)}}\end{pmatrix}}} \right)} \right\},{\Delta\; P_{{rampuprequested},c}}} \right\rbrack}$

and ΔP_(rampuprequested,c) is provided by higher layers and correspondsto the total power ramp-up requested by higher layers from the first tothe last preamble in the serving cell c, M_(PUSCH,c)(0) is the bandwidthof the PUSCH resource assignment expressed in number of resource blocksvalid for the subframe of first PUSCH transmission in the serving cellc, and ΔTF,c(0) is the power adjustment of first PUSCH transmission inthe serving cell c.

3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.3 specifies the following rules for PUCCHcalculations: If P_(O_UE_PUCCH) value is changed by higher layers,g(0)=0 Else g(0)=ΔP_(rampup)+δ_(msg2) where δ_(msg2) is the TPC commandindicated in the random access response corresponding to the randomaccess preamble transmitted in the primary cell, and

${\Delta\; P_{rampup}} = {\min\left\lbrack {\left\{ {\max\left( {0,{P_{{CMAX},c} - \begin{pmatrix}{P_{0\_\;{PUCCH}} +} \\{{PL}_{c} + {h\left( {n_{CQI},n_{HARQ},n_{SR}} \right)} +} \\{{\Delta_{F\;\_\;{PUCCH}}(F)} + {\Delta_{TxD}\left( F^{\prime} \right)}}\end{pmatrix}}} \right)} \right\},{\Delta\; P_{rampuprequested}}} \right\rbrack}$

and ΔP_(rampuprequested) is provided by higher layers and corresponds tothe total power ramp-up requested by higher layers from the first to thelast preamble in the primary cell.

R1-132673 provided an enhancement to determining the initial PUSCH/PUCCHtransmit power after a successful PRACH. If the initial PUSCH/PUCCHtransmit power is not set properly, the UEs may start uplink signaltransmission at a too high or too low power and multiple power controlcommands may be required to adjust the UE transmit power. This isespecially important for PUCCH, since many UEs may share the same PUCCHradio resources and losing control channel signal may have negativeconsequences (e.g. due to false detection). If a UE transmits PUCCH at ahigher power than required, it may create interference to other UEs. Ifa UE transmits PUCCH at a lower power than required, the eNB may not beable to successfully receive the PUCCH signal. There is a need toenhance power control mechanisms for PUCCH transmission. Specially,there is a need to enhance the initial PUCCH transmit power computationafter a successful PRACH process. Example embodiments describemechanisms to enhance the initial PUCCH transmit power calculationsafter a successful PRACH process.

In 3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.3, the initial adjustment factor for PUSCH, f(0),is calculated employing equation f_(c)(0)=ΔP_(rampup,c)+δ_(msg2,c), andthe initial adjustment factor for PUCCH, g(0), is calculated employingequation g(0)=ΔP_(rampup)+δ_(msg2). Different formulas are presented forcalculating the ΔP_(rampup) for PUSCH and PUCCH as shown above.

The value of ΔP_(rampup) for PUCCH is:ΔP _(rampup) =P _(CMAX,c)−[P _(0_PUCCH) +PL _(c) +h(n _(CQI) ,n _(HARQ),n _(SR))+Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F)+Δ_(TxD)(F′)]

This is considering a scenario whereinP_(CMAX,c)−[P_(0_PUCCH)+PL_(c)+h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR))+Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F)+Δ_(TxD)(F′)]has a value greater or equal to zero and is less thanΔP_(rampuprequested). WhenP_(CMAX,c)−[P_(0_PUCCH)+PL_(c)+h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR))+Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F)+Δ_(TxD)(F′)]is greater than ΔP_(rampuprequested), ΔP_(rampup)=ΔP_(rampuprequested).

WhenP_(CMAX,c)−[P_(0_PUCCH)+PL_(c)+h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR))+Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F)+Δ_(TxD)(F′)]has a value greater or equal to zero and is less thanΔP_(rampuprequested), then

When the value is inserted in g(0), the value of g(0) may be:g(0)=P _(CMAX,c)−[P _(0_PUCCH) +PL _(c) +h(n _(CQI) ,n _(HARQ) ,n_(SR))+Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F)+Δ_(TxD)(F′)]+δ_(msg2,c)

When this value is inserted in the P_PUCCH(0) equation may result in:

${P_{PUCCH}(0)} = {{\min\begin{Bmatrix}{{P_{{CMAX},c}(0)},} \\{{P_{{CMAX},c}(0)} - \delta_{{{msg}\; 2},c}}\end{Bmatrix}} = {{P_{{CMAX},c}(0)} - \delta_{{{msg}\; 2},c}}}$

In the current mechanism, in some scenarios, the (maximum) value ofinitial PUCCH power may be P_(CMAX,c)(0)−δ_(msg2,c). This may decreasethe initial UE power and limit the potential interference to other UEsin some example scenarios. This may reduce interference created by PUCCHtransmissions in some example scenarios.

Such a decrease in the initial UE PUCCH transmit power in some examplescenarios may decrease overall PUCCH efficiency and may deteriorateoverall air interface spectral efficiency. There is a need to enhancethe initial PUCCH transmit power calculations after a successful PRACHprocess.

In an example embodiment, the value the initial transmit power of PUCCHis increased by δ_(msg2,c) in some example scenarios. This enhancementrequire changing the PUCCH transmit power computation mechanism in theUE. Example embodiment enhances UE initial PUCCH transmit powersettings. Example embodiments describe mechanisms to enhance the initialPUCCH transmit power calculations after a successful PRACH process.Example embodiment may provide an additional 1 to 3 dB gain to initialtransmit power.

Adding 3 dB to PUCCH transmit power (calculated by PUCCH powercomputation mechanism in 3GPP TS 36.213 v.11.3) may not be an effectivemethod for enhancing the UE PUCCH transmit power. In many scenarios,PUCCH may be transmitted with enough initial transmit power in theexisting mechanism (e.g. for a UE close to the eNB and/or or a UE withgood coverage quality).

To implement the example embodiments, the mechanism for computation ofΔP_(rampup) is updated as shown below:

${\Delta\; P_{rampup}} = {\min\left\lbrack {\left\{ {\max\left( {0,{P_{{CMAX},c} - \begin{pmatrix}{P_{0\_\;{PUCCH}} + \delta_{{{msg}\; 2},c} +} \\{{PL}_{c} + {h\left( {n_{{CQI},}n_{{HARQ},}n_{SR}} \right)} +} \\{{\Delta_{F\;\_\;{PUCCH}}(F)} + {\Delta_{TxD}\left( F^{\prime} \right)}}\end{pmatrix}}} \right)} \right\},{\Delta\; P_{rampuprequested}}} \right\rbrack}$

In an example embodiment, the parameter δ_(msg2,c) is included in thecomputation of ΔP_(rampup). The value of δ_(msg2,c) may be included incalculation of ΔP_(rampup) when

P_(CMAX,c)−[P_(0_PUCCH)+PL_(c)+h(n_(CQI),n_(HARQ),n_(SR))+Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F)+Δ_(TxD)(F′)+δ_(msg2,c)]has a value greater or equal to zero and is less thanΔP_(rampuprequested). The example embodiment may increase PUCCH transmitby δ_(msg2,c) when it is needed.

In some scenarios, the enhancement in example embodiments may not beapplicable to PUSCH power computations since PUSCH power computationalready includes δ_(msg2,c) in calculation of the ramp up power value.The current mechanisms do not include δ_(msg2,c) in calculating the rampup value for PUCCH. Example embodiments of the invention enhancesexisting mechanisms by including δ_(msg2,c) in calculations of PUCCHtransmit power and improves air interface efficiency.

In LTE-Advanced Release 12 and before, PUCCH is supported on primarycell(s). When the PUCCH transmission is supported on a secondary cell(e.g. in R.13 and/or beyond), ΔP_(rampup) may need to be calculated forPUCCH on a primary cell or on a secondary cell. δ_(msg2,c) andΔP_(rampuprequested) may be serving cell specific. In an exampleembodiment, a serving cell may have its own δ_(msg2,c) andΔP_(rampuprequested) values configured by higher layers (RRC messages).Other parameters in the calculations of ΔP_(rampup), which areconfigured by higher layers for a serving cell, may be separatelyconfigured and/or computed for a PUCCH on a primary cell and a PUCCH ona secondary cell. PUCCH configuration parameters and settings may bedifferent for a PUCCH on a primary cell or a PUCCH on a secondary cell.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive, from a basestation, at least one message comprising: i) one or more physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH) information elements (IEs) indicating one ormore PUCCH formats of a secondary PUCCH of a secondary cell; and ii) oneor more second PUCCH power control IEs. The wireless device may transmita first instance of uplink control information on the secondary PUCCHwith an initial transmit power computed employing an initial adjustmentfactor. If the wireless device transmits a random access preamble on thePUCCH secondary cell, the initial transmit power depends on: i) the oneor more second PUCCH power control IEs indicating a power parametervalue for at least one of the one or more PUCCH formats: and ii) theinitial adjustment factor, wherein the initial adjustment factor iscomputed employing a transmit power control value received in a randomaccess response corresponding to the random access preamble. Otherwisethe initial transmit power may depend on the one or more second PUCCHpower control IEs. The initial adjustment factor is set to zero. Therandom access may be initiated to align (synchronize) uplinktransmission timing before PUCCH signals are transmitted. The initialadjustment factor may be computed further employing a ramp-up parameter.The initial adjustment factor may be computed by adding the transmitpower control value and the ramp-up parameter. The ramp-up parameter maybe computed as a function of the transmit power control value.

In an example embodiment a wireless device may receive at least onemessage comprising: i) one or more physical uplink control channel(PUCCH) information elements (IEs) indicating one or more PUCCH formatsof a PUCCH of a cell: and ii) one or more PUCCH power control IEs. Thewireless device may transmit a first instance of uplink controlinformation on the PUCCH with an initial transmit power computedemploying an initial adjustment factor. If the wireless device transmitsa random access preamble on the cell prior to transmission of the firstinstance, the initial transmit power may depend on: i) the one or morePUCCH power control IEs indicating a power parameter value for at leastone of the one or more PUCCH formats; and the initial adjustment factor.The initial adjustment factor may be computed by adding the transmitpower control value and a ramp-up parameter. The ramp-up parameter maybe computed as a function of the transmit power control value. Otherwisethe initial transmit power may depend on the one or more PUCCH powercontrol IEs; and the initial adjustment factor is set to zero. Therandom access may be initiated to align (synchronize) uplinktransmission timing before PUCCH signals are transmitted.

FIG. 22 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. According to an embodiment, a wireless device maycomprise one or more processors and memory storing instructions that,when executed, cause the wireless device to perform at least part of theflow diagram. A wireless device may receive at least one message from abase station at 2210. The at least one message may compriseconfiguration parameters of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH. According to an embodiment, theat least one message may comprise configuration parameters of aplurality of cells grouped into a plurality of PUCCH groups. Theplurality of PUCCH groups may comprise a primary PUCCH group and asecondary PUCCH group. The primary PUCCH group may comprise a primarycell with a primary PUCCH transmitted to a base station. The secondaryPUCCH group may comprise the PUCCH secondary cell with the secondaryPUCCH transmitted to the base station. According to an embodiment, theat least one message may comprise random access resource parameters ofthe PUCCH secondary cell. According to an embodiment, the at least onemessage may further comprise a pathloss reference parameter indicating apathloss reference cell for the PUCCH secondary cell.

A media access control (MAC) activation command indicating activation ofthe PUCCH secondary cell may be received at 2220. According to anembodiment, the PUCCH secondary cell may be initially deactivated whenconfigured.

An adjustment factor may be initialized at 2240 and/or 2250. Adetermination may be made at 2230 whether the wireless device transmitsa random access preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell employing atransmit power control value received in a random access response. Thedetermination step may be explicit or may be implicit as a part of theimplementation of the PHY/MAC in the wireless device. If thedetermination is positive, the adjustment factor may be initialized at2240. Otherwise, when the determination is negative, the adjustmentfactor may be initialized to zero at 2250. The determination step may beexplicit or may be implicit as a part of the implementation of thePHY/MAC in the wireless device. According to an embodiment, the randomaccess response may be received on a primary cell. According to anembodiment, the initializing of the adjustment factor may furthercomprise employing at least one power ramp-up value if the wirelessdevice transmits the random access preamble.

At 2260, a first instance of uplink control information on the secondaryPUCCH may be transmitted with an initial transmit power computedemploying the adjustment factor. According to an embodiment, the methodmay further comprise computing the initial transmit power employing oneor more second PUCCH power control IEs. The at least one messagecomprise one or more PUCCH IEs and one or more second PUCCH powercontrol IEs. The one or more PUCCH IEs may indicate one or more PUCCHformats of the secondary PUCCH. The one or more second PUCCH powercontrol IEs may indicate a power parameter value of at least one of theone or more PUCCH formats. According to an embodiment, the firstinstance of uplink control information may be transmitted afterreceiving the random access response.

According to an embodiment, the method may further comprise updating theadjustment factor employing one or more power control commands receivedfrom a base station.

FIG. 23 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. According to an embodiment, a wireless device maycomprise one or more processors and memory storing instructions that,when executed, cause the wireless device to perform at least part of theflow diagram. A wireless device may receive at least one message at2310. The at least one message may comprise configuration parameters ofa physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) secondary cell with asecondary PUCCH. According to an embodiment, the at least one messagemay comprise configuration parameters of a plurality of cells groupedinto a plurality of PUCCH groups. The plurality of PUCCH groups maycomprise a primary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group. The primaryPUCCH group may comprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH transmittedto a base station. The secondary PUCCH group may comprise the PUCCHsecondary cell with the secondary PUCCH transmitted to the base station.According to an embodiment, the at least one message may comprise randomaccess resource parameters for the PUCCH secondary cell. According to anembodiment, the at least one message may comprise a pathloss referenceparameter indicating a pathloss reference cell of the PUCCH secondarycell.

A first uplink control information (UCI) may be transmitted on thesecondary PUCCH employing an adjustment factor at 2320. The adjustmentfactor may be updated when the wireless device receives a transmit powercontrol command for the secondary PUCCH. According to an embodiment, thetransmit power control command may be received on a common search spaceof a primary cell. According to an embodiment, the transmit powercontrol command may be received on a dedicated search space of asecondary cell.

A first media access control (MAC) command indicating deactivation ofthe PUCCH secondary cell may be received at 2330. Transmission of uplinksignals on the PUCCH secondary cell may be stopped at 2340. Theadjustment factor may be reset to zero at 2350. A second MAC commandindicating activation of the PUCCH secondary cell may be received at2360. A second UCI may be transmitted on the secondary PUCCH at 2370.

According to an embodiment, the method may further comprise initializingthe adjustment factor employing a transmit power control value receivedin a random access response if the wireless device transmits a randomaccess preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell. According to an embodiment,the method may further comprise initializing the adjustment factoremploying at least one power ramp-up value if the wireless devicetransmits a random access preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell.

FIG. 24 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. According to an embodiment, a wireless device maycomprise one or more processors and memory storing instructions that,when executed, cause the wireless device to perform at least part of theflow diagram. A wireless device may receive at least one message at2410. The at least one message may comprise configuration parameters ofa physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) secondary cell with asecondary PUCCH. According to an embodiment, the at least one messagemay comprise configuration parameters of a plurality of cells groupedinto a plurality of PUCCH groups. The plurality of PUCCH groups maycomprise a primary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group. The primaryPUCCH group may comprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH transmittedto a base station. The secondary PUCCH group may comprise the PUCCHsecondary cell with the secondary PUCCH transmitted to the base station.According to an embodiment, the at least one message may comprise randomaccess resource parameters for the PUCCH secondary cell. According to anembodiment, the at least one message may comprise a pathloss referenceparameter indicating a pathloss reference cell of the PUCCH secondarycell.

First uplink control information (UCI) may be transmitted on thesecondary PUCCH employing an adjustment factor at 2420. The adjustmentfactor may be updated when the wireless device receives a transmit powercontrol command for the secondary PUCCH. According to an embodiment, thetransmit power control command may be received on a common search spaceof a primary cell. According to an embodiment, the transmit powercontrol command may be received on a dedicated search space of asecondary cell.

A first media access control (MAC) command indicating deactivation ofthe PUCCH secondary cell may be received at 2430. Transmission of uplinksignals on the PUCCH secondary cell may be stopped and a current valueof the adjustment factor stored at 2440. A second MAC command indicatingactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell may be received at 2450. A secondUCI may be transmitted on the secondary PUCCH employing the storedadjustment factor at 2460.

According to an embodiment, the method may further comprise initializingthe adjustment factor employing a transmit power control value receivedin a random access response if the wireless device transmits a randomaccess preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell. According to an embodiment,the method may further comprise initializing the adjustment factoremploying at least one power ramp-up value if the wireless devicetransmits a random access preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell.According to an embodiment, the method may further comprise ignoring, bythe wireless device, a first power control command for the secondaryPUCCH when the PUCCH secondary cell is deactivated.

FIG. 25 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. According to an embodiment, a wireless device maycomprise one or more processors and memory storing instructions that,when executed, cause the wireless device to perform at least part of theflow diagram. A wireless device may receive at least one message at2510. The at least one message may comprise configuration parameters ofa plurality of cells grouped into a plurality of physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) groups. The plurality of PUCCH groups may comprise aprimary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group. The primary PUCCH groupmay comprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH. The secondary PUCCHgroup may comprise the PUCCH secondary cell with the secondary PUCCH.According to an embodiment, the at least one message may furthercomprise a pathloss reference parameter indicating a pathloss referencecell of the PUCCH secondary cell.

At 2520, the wireless device may receive, on a common search space ofthe primary cell, a transmit power control (TPC) command for thesecondary PUCCH. A determination may be made as to whether the PUCCHsecondary cell is in a deactivated state at 2530. The determination stepmay be explicit or may be implicit as a part of the implementation ofthe PHY/MAC in the wireless device. The wireless device may ignore theTPC command at 2540 when the PUCCH secondary cell is in a deactivatedstate.

According to an embodiment, the wireless device may further receive amedia access control (MAC) command indicating activation of thesecondary cell. According to an embodiment, the wireless device maytransmit uplink control information (UCI) on the secondary PUCCHemploying a closed loop adjustment factor of zero. According to anembodiment, the wireless device may transmit uplink control information(UCI) on the secondary PUCCH employing a stored value of a closed loopadjustment factor.

According to an embodiment, the wireless device may further calculate atransmit power of the secondary PUCCH employing the TPC command when thePUCCH secondary cell is in an activated state and transmit uplinksignals on the secondary PUCCH with the transmit power. According to anembodiment, the wireless device may further receive a media accesscontrol (MAC) command indicating deactivation of the secondary cell.According to an embodiment, downlink control information may be receivedon the common search space may comprise the TPC command and a first TPCcommand for the primary PUCCH.

FIG. 26 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. According to an embodiment, a wireless device maycomprise one or more processors and memory storing instructions that,when executed, cause the wireless device to perform at least part of theflow diagram. A wireless device may receive at least one message at2610. The at least one message may comprise configuration parameters ofa plurality of cells grouped into a plurality of physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) groups. The plurality of PUCCH groups may comprise aprimary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group. The primary PUCCH groupmay comprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH. The secondary PUCCHgroup may comprise the PUCCH secondary cell with the secondary PUCCH.According to an embodiment, the at least one message may furthercomprise a pathloss reference parameter indicating a pathloss referencecell of the PUCCH secondary cell.

The wireless device may receive at 2620, on a common search space of theprimary cell, a transmit power control (TPC) command of the secondaryPUCCH. A determination may be made at 2630 whether the PUCCH secondarycell is assigned to a timing advance group. A determination may be madeat 2640 whether the time alignment timer is running. The determinationstep may be explicit or may be implicit as a part of the implementationof the PHY/MAC in the wireless device. The wireless device may ignorethe power control command at 2650 when the PUCCH secondary cell isassigned to a timing advance group whose time alignment timer is notrunning.

According to an embodiment, the wireless device may further receive arandom access response comprising a timing advance command for a timingadvance group and transmit uplink control information (UCI) on thesecondary PUCCH employing a first TPC command. According to anembodiment, the wireless device may further calculate a transmit powerof the secondary PUCCH employing the TPC command when the PUCCHsecondary cell is in an activated state and the time alignment timer isrunning and transmit uplink signals on the secondary PUCCH with thetransmit power. According to an embodiment, the wireless device mayfurther receive a timing advance command for the timing advance group.According to an embodiment, downlink control information received on thecommon search space may comprise the TPC command and a first TPC commandfor the primary PUCCH.

FIG. 27 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. A wireless device may receive at least onemessage at 2710. The at least one message may comprise configurationparameters of a plurality of cells grouped into a plurality of physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. The plurality of PUCCH groups maycomprise a primary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group. The primaryPUCCH group may comprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH. Thesecondary PUCCH group may comprise the PUCCH secondary cell with thesecondary PUCCH. According to an embodiment, the at least one messagemay further comprise a pathloss reference parameter indicating apathloss reference cell of the PUCCH secondary cell.

According to an embodiment, the at least one message may comprise one ormore first PUCCH information elements (IEs) and/or one or more secondPUCCH power control IEs. The one or more first PUCCH informationelements (IEs) may indicate one or more PUCCH formats of the secondaryPUCCH. The one or more second PUCCH power control IEs may indicate apower parameter value for at least one of the one or more PUCCH formats.

The wireless device may receive, at 2720, a media access control (MAC)activation command indicating activation of the PUCCH secondary cell.

At 2730, the wireless device may receive, on a secondary cell in theplurality of cells, downlink control information comprising a PUCCHtransmit power control (TPC) command. According to an embodiment, thedownlink control information may be received in a wireless devicespecific search space of a physical downlink control channel of thesecondary cell. According to an embodiment, the wireless device mayfurther receive, on a common search space of the primary cell, a secondPUCCH TPC command for the secondary PUCCH.

A determination may be made at 2740 whether the secondary PUCCH groupcomprises the secondary cell. The determination step may be explicit ormay be implicit as a part of the implementation of the PHY/MAC in thewireless device. At 2750, the wireless device may calculate a transmitpower of the secondary PUCCH employing the PUCCH TPC command only if thesecondary PUCCH group comprises the secondary cell. According to anembodiment, the calculation of the transmit power may further employ oneor more second PUCCH power control IEs. According to an embodiment, thewireless device may further calculate, a first transmit power of theprimary PUCCH, employing the PUCCH TPC command only if the primary PUCCHgroup comprises the secondary cell; and transmit first uplink signals onthe primary PUCCH with the first transmit power.

At 2760, the wireless device may transmit uplink signals on thesecondary PUCCH with the transmit power. According to an embodiment, theuplink signals may comprise channel state information.

FIG. 28 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. A wireless device may receive at least onemessage at 2810. The at least one message may comprise configurationparameters of a plurality of cells grouped into a plurality of physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. The plurality of PUCCH groups maycomprise a primary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group. The primaryPUCCH group may comprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH transmittedto a base station. The secondary PUCCH group may comprise the PUCCHsecondary cell with the secondary PUCCH transmitted to the base station.

According to an embodiment, the at least one message may furthercomprise a pathloss reference parameter indicating a pathloss referencecell of the PUCCH secondary cell. According to an embodiment, the atleast one message may comprise one or more first PUCCH informationelements (IEs) and/or one or more second PUCCH power control IEs. Theone or more first PUCCH IEs may indicate one or more PUCCH formats ofthe secondary PUCCH. The one or more second PUCCH power control IEs mayindicate a power parameter value for at least one of the one or morePUCCH formats.

At 2820, the wireless device may receive, on a secondary cell in theplurality of cells, downlink control information comprising a PUCCHtransmit power control (TPC) command. According to an embodiment, thedownlink control information may be received in a wireless devicespecific search space of a physical downlink control channel of thesecondary cell. According to an embodiment, the wireless device mayfurther receive a second PUCCH TPC command for the second PUCCH on acommon search space of the primary cell.

A determination may be made at 2830 whether the primary PUCCH groupcomprises the secondary cell. The determination step may be explicit ormay be implicit as a part of the implementation of the PHY/MAC in thewireless device. At 2840, the wireless device may calculate, a firsttransmit power of the primary PUCCH, employing the PUCCH TPC command ifthe primary PUCCH group comprises the secondary cell. A determinationmay be made at 2850 whether the secondary PUCCH group comprises thesecondary cell. The determination step may be explicit or may beimplicit as a part of the implementation of the PHY/MAC in the wirelessdevice. At 2860, the wireless device may calculate a second transmitpower of the secondary PUCCH employing the PUCCH TPC command if thesecondary PUCCH group comprises the secondary cell. According to anembodiment, the calculation of the second transmit power may furtheremploy the one or more second PUCCH power control IEs.

At 2870, the wireless device may transmit first uplink signals on theprimary PUCCH with the first transmit power or second uplink signals onthe secondary PUCCH with the second transmit power. According to anembodiment, the second uplink signals may comprise channel stateinformation.

FIG. 29 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. According to an embodiment, a wireless device maycomprise one or more processors and memory storing instructions that,when executed, cause the wireless device to perform at least part of theflow diagram. A wireless device may receive at least one message at2910. The at least one message may comprise configuration parameters ofa plurality of cells grouped into a plurality of physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) groups. The plurality of PUCCH groups may comprise aprimary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group. The primary PUCCH groupmay comprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH transmitted to the basestation. The secondary PUCCH group may comprise the PUCCH secondary cellwith the secondary PUCCH transmitted to the base station.

According to an embodiment, the at least one message may furthercomprise a pathloss reference parameter indicating a pathloss referencecell of the PUCCH secondary cell. According to an embodiment, the atleast one message may comprise the one or more PUCCH informationelements (IEs) and/or the one or more second PUCCH power control IEs.The one or more PUCCH information elements (IEs) may indicate one ormore PUCCH formats of the secondary PUCCH. The one or more second PUCCHpower control IEs may indicate a power parameter value for at least oneof the one or more PUCCH formats.

At 2920, the wireless device may receive, on a secondary cell in theplurality of cells, downlink control information comprising a PUCCHtransmit power control (TPC) command. According to an embodiment, thewireless device may further receive a second PUCCH TPC command for thesecond PUCCH on a common search space of the primary cell. According toan embodiment, the downlink control information may be received in awireless device specific search space of a physical downlink controlchannel of the secondary cell. According to an embodiment, the downlinkcontrol information may be received in a wireless device specific searchspace of a physical downlink control channel of the secondary cell.

A determination may be made at 2930 whether the secondary cell is mappedto the primary PUCCH group. The determination step may be explicit ormay be implicit as a part of the implementation of the PHY/MAC in thewireless device. At 2940, the wireless device may apply the TPC commandto a first transmit power of the primary PUCCH if the secondary cell ismapped to the primary PUCCH group. A determination may be made at 2950whether the secondary cell is mapped to the secondary PUCCH group. Thedetermination step may be explicit or may be implicit as a part of theimplementation of the PHY/MAC in the wireless device. At 2960, thewireless device may apply the TPC command to a second transmit power ofthe secondary PUCCH if the secondary cell is mapped to the secondaryPUCCH group. The determination blocks in the figures of thespecification describe conditional behavior of the mechanismsimplemented in the wireless device. Implementation of the determinationmechanism may be implicit by a hardware or code in a memory, or othermethods.

According to an embodiment, the wireless device may further compute thesecond transmit power employing one or more second PUCCH power controlIEs. According to an embodiment, the wireless device may furthertransmit first uplink signals on the primary PUCCH with the firsttransmit power or second uplink signals on the secondary PUCCH with thesecond transmit power.

A Primary PUCCH group may comprise a group of serving cells including aPCell whose PUCCH signalling may be associated with the PUCCH on PCell.A PUCCH group may comprise either a primary PUCCH group or a secondaryPUCCH group. A PUCCH SCell may comprise a Secondary Cell configured withPUCCH. A Secondary PUCCH group may comprise a group of SCells whosePUCCH signalling may be associated with the PUCCH on the PUCCH SCell. ATiming Advance Group (TAG) may comprise a group of serving cells thatmay be configured by RRC and that, for the cells with an UL configured,may use the same timing reference cell and the same Timing Advancevalue. A Primary Timing Advance Group (pTAG) may comprise a TimingAdvance Group containing the PCell. A Secondary Timing Advance Group(sTAG) may comprise a Timing Advance Group not containing the PCell.

A Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be transmitted on a PCell,a PUCCH SCell (if such is configured in CA) and on a PSCell (in DC). Theconfigured set of serving cells for a UE may always consists of onePCell and one or more SCells. If DC is not configured, one additionalPUCCH may be configured on an SCell, and/or the PUCCH SCell. When aPUCCH SCell is configured, RRC may configure the mapping of each servingcell to Primary PUCCH group or Secondary PUCCH group, i.e., for eachSCell whether the PCell or the PUCCH SCell is used for the transmissionof ACK/NAKs and CSI reports.

If the UE is configured with a SCG, the UE may apply the procedures forboth MCG and SCG. When the procedures are applied for MCG, the term‘serving cell’ may refers to a serving cell belonging to the MCG.

When the procedures are applied for SCG, the term ‘serving cell’ mayrefer to a serving cell belonging to the SCG. The term ‘primary cell’may refer to the PSCell of the SCG. If the UE is configured with aPUCCH-SCell, the UE may apply procedures for both primary PUCCH groupand secondary PUCCH group. When the procedures are applied for theprimary PUCCH group, the term ‘serving cell’ may refer to a serving cellbelonging to the primary PUCCH group. When the procedures are appliedfor the secondary PUCCH group, the term ‘serving cell’ may refer to aserving cell belonging to the secondary PUCCH group. The term ‘primarycell’ may refer to the PUCCH-SCell of the secondary PUCCH group.

δ_(PUCCH) may comprise a UE specific correction value, also referred toas a TPC command, included in a PDCCH with DCI format1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D for the primary cell, or included in an EPDCCHwith DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D for the primary cell, or sentjointly coded with other UE specific PUCCH correction values on a PDCCHwith DCI format 3/3A whose CRC parity bits are scrambled withTPC-PUCCH-RNTI.

If a UE is not configured for EPDCCH monitoring, the UE may attempt todecode a PDCCH of DCI format 3/3A with the UE's TPC-PUCCH-RNTI and oneor several PDCCHs of DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D with the UE'sC-RNTI or SPS C-RNTI on every subframe except when in DRX. If a UE isconfigured for EPDCCH monitoring, the UE may attempt to decode a PDCCHof DCI format 3/3A with the UE's TPC-PUCCH-RNTI and one or severalPDCCHs of DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D with the UE's C-RNTI orSPS C-RNTI, and one or several EPDCCHs of DCI format1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B2C/2D with the UE's C-RNTI or SPS C-RNTI.

If the UE decodes a PDCCH with DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D or anEPDCCH with DCI format 1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D for the primary cell andthe corresponding detected RNTI equals the C-RNTI or SPS C-RNTI of theUE and the TPC field in the DCI format is not used to determine thePUCCH resource, the UE may use the δ_(PUCCH) provided in thatPDCCH/EPDCCH. Otherwise, if the UE decodes a PDCCH with DCI format 3/3A,the UE may use the δ_(PUCCH) provided in that PDCCH, else the UE may beset δ_(PUCCH)=0 dB. g(i)−g(i−1)+Σ_(m=0) ^(M−1)δ_(PUCCH)(i−k_(m)) whereis the current PUCCH power control adjustment state and where g(0) isthe first value after reset. For FDD or FDD-TDD and primary cell framestructure type 1, M=1 and k₀=4. For TDD, values of M and k_(m) be given,where the “UL/DL configuration” may corresponds to theeimta-HARQ-ReferenceConfig-r12 for the primary cell when the UE isconfigured with the parameter EIMTA-MainConfigServCell-r12 for theprimary cell. The δ_(PUCCH) dB values signalled on PDCCH with DCI format1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D or EPDCCH with DCI format1A/1B/1D/1/2A/2/2B/2C/2D may be given below. If the PDCCH with DCIformat 1/1A/2/2A/2B/2C/2D or EPDCCH with DCI format 1/1A/2A/2/2B/2C/2Dis validated as an SPS activation PDCCH/EPDCCH, or the PDCCH/EPDCCH withDCI format 1A is validated as an SPS release PDCCH/EPDCCH, thenδ_(PUCCH) may be 0 dB. The δ_(PUCCH) dB values signalled on PDCCH withDCI format 3/3A may be given as semi-statically configured by higherlayers.

If the UE is configured with a SCG, the UE may apply procedures for bothMCG and/or SCG. When the procedures are applied for MCG, the term‘serving cell’ may refer to a serving cell belonging to the MCG. Whenthe procedures are applied for SCG, the term ‘serving cell’ may refersto a serving cell belonging to the SCG. The term ‘primary cell’ mayrefer to the PSCell of the SCG. If the UE is configured with aPUCCH-SCell, the UE may apply the procedures described in for bothprimary PUCCH group and secondary PUCCH group. When the procedures areapplied for the primary PUCCH group, the term ‘serving cell’ may referto a serving cell belonging to the primary PUCCH group. When theprocedures are applied for the secondary PUCCH group, the term ‘servingcell’ may refer to a serving cell belonging to the secondary PUCCHgroup. The term ‘primary cell’ may refer to the PUCCH-SCell of thesecondary PUCCH group.

In this specification, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to beinterpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this specification,the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In otherwords, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term“may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities thatmay, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, A iscalled a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets andsubsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1,cell2} are: {cell1}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}.

In this specification, parameters (Information elements: IEs) maycomprise one or more objects, and each of those objects may comprise oneor more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprisesparameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, andparameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J, then, forexample, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment,when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it impliesthat a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one ofthe one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one ormore messages.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented as modules. A module is defined here as an isolatableelement that performs a defined function and has a defined interface toother elements. The modules described in this disclosure may beimplemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware,firmware, wetware (i.e. hardware with a biological element) or acombination thereof, all of which are behaviorally equivalent. Forexample, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in acomputer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (suchas C. C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or amodeling/simulation program such as Simulink. Stateflow, GNU Octave, orLabVIEWMathScript. Additionally, it may be possible to implement modulesusing physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmableanalog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmablehardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs): and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs).Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed usinglanguages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDsare often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such asVHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configureconnections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionalityon a programmable device. Finally, it needs to be emphasized that theabove mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achievethe result of a functional module.

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which issubject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection tothe facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or thepatent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, for the limited purposes required by law, butotherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope. In fact, after reading theabove description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevantart(s) how to implement alternative embodiments. Thus, the presentembodiments should not be limited by any of the above describedexemplary embodiments. In particular, it should be noted that, forexample purposes, the above explanation has focused on the example(s)using FDD communication systems. However, one skilled in the art willrecognize that embodiments of the invention may also be implemented in asystem comprising one or more TDD cells (e.g. frame structure 2 and/orframe structure 3-licensed assisted access). The disclosed methods andsystems may be implemented in wireless or wireline systems. The featuresof various embodiments presented in this invention may be combined. Oneor many features (method or system) of one embodiment may be implementedin other embodiments. Only a limited number of example combinations areshown to indicate to one skilled in the art the possibility of featuresthat may be combined in various embodiments to create enhancedtransmission and reception systems and methods.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlightthe functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposesonly. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible andconfigurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than thatshown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may bere-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract of the Disclosure is to enable theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, andespecially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art whoare not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determinequickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of thetechnical disclosure of the application. The Abstract of the Disclosureis not intended to be limiting as to the scope in any way.

Finally, it is the applicant's intent that only claims that include theexpress language “means for” or “step for” be interpreted under 35U.S.C. 112, paragraph 6. Claims that do not expressly include the phrase“means for” or “step for” are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a wirelessdevice, at least one message comprising configuration parameters of aphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH) secondary cell with a secondaryPUCCH; transmitting first uplink control information (UCI) on thesecondary PUCCH employing an adjustment factor, the adjustment factor isdetermined based on a received first transmit power control command forthe secondary PUCCH; receiving a first media access control (MAC)command indicating deactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell; in responseto the deactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell, stopping transmissionof uplink signals on the PUCCH secondary cell and storing a currentvalue of the adjustment factor determined based on the received firsttransmit power control command; receiving a second transmit powercontrol command for the secondary PUCCH; ignoring the second transmitpower control command for the secondary PUCCH when the PUCCH secondarycell is in a deactivated state; receiving a second MAC commandindicating activation of the PUCCH secondary cell; and after theactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell, transmitting a second UCI on thesecondary PUCCH employing the stored current value of the adjustmentfactor.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting arandom access preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell; and initializing theadjustment factor employing a transmit power control value received in arandom access response to the random access preamble.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: transmitting a random access preamble onthe PUCCH secondary cell; and initializing the adjustment factoremploying at least one power ramp-up value.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one message comprises configuration parameters of aplurality of cells grouped into a plurality of PUCCH groups comprising:a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell with a primary PUCCHtransmitted to a base station; and a secondary PUCCH group comprisingthe PUCCH secondary cell with the secondary PUCCH transmitted to thebase station.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmit powercontrol command is received on a common search space of a primary cell.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmit power controlcommand is received on a dedicated search space of a secondary cell. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one message comprises randomaccess resource parameters of the PUCCH secondary cell.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one message comprises a pathloss referenceparameter indicating a pathloss reference cell of the PUCCH secondarycell.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising ignoring, by thewireless device, the first power control command for the secondary PUCCHwhen the PUCCH secondary cell is in a timing advance group that is notuplink synchronized.
 10. A wireless device comprising: one or moreprocessors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the wireless device to: receive at leastone message comprising configuration parameters of a physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH) secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH; transmitfirst uplink control information (UCI) on the secondary PUCCH employingan adjustment factor, the adjustment factor is determined based on areceived first transmit power control command for the secondary PUCCH;receive a first media access control (MAC) command indicatingdeactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell; in response to thedeactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell, stop transmission of uplinksignals on the PUCCH secondary cell and store a current value of theadjustment factor determined based on the received first transmit powercontrol command; receive a second transmit power control command for thesecondary PUCCH; ignore the second transmit power control command forthe secondary PUCCH when the PUCCH secondary cell is in a deactivatedstate; receive a second MAC command indicating activation of the PUCCHsecondary cell; and after the activation of the PUCCH secondary cell,transmit a second UCI on the secondary PUCCH employing the storedcurrent value of the adjustment factor.
 11. The wireless device of claim10, wherein the transmit power control command is received via a grouppower control command on a common search space of a primary cell. 12.The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executedby the one or more processors, further cause the wireless device toinitialize the adjustment factor employing a transmit power controlvalue received in a random access response if the wireless devicetransmits a random access preamble on the PUCCH secondary cell.
 13. Thewireless device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed bythe one or more processors, further cause the wireless device toinitialize the adjustment factor employing at least one power ramp-upvalue if the wireless device transmits a random access preamble on thePUCCH secondary cell.
 14. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein theat least one message comprises configuration parameters of a pluralityof cells grouped into a plurality of PUCCH groups comprising: a primaryPUCCH group comprising a primary cell with a primary PUCCH transmittedto a base station; and a secondary PUCCH group comprising the PUCCHsecondary cell with the secondary PUCCH transmitted to the base station.15. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the first transmit powercontrol command is received on a common search space of a primary cell.16. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the first transmit powercontrol command is received on a dedicated search space of a secondarycell.
 17. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the at least onemessage comprises random access resource parameters of the PUCCHsecondary cell.
 18. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the atleast one message comprises a pathloss reference parameter indicating apathloss reference cell of the PUCCH secondary cell.
 19. The wirelessdevice of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the oneor more processors, further cause the wireless device to ignore thefirst power control command for the secondary PUCCH when the PUCCHsecondary cell is in a timing advance group that is not uplinksynchronized.